First week In India
Got to Bombay at 2am, was kinda late so I checked into the first hotel I saw, $38 a night but I was tired, slept for 14 hours.
Was far too late to get up and change hotels at 4pm so I had some food and wandered around Colbara, plenty of tourists. Saw the gateway to India and looked at some shops, drank some juice and went back to bed. 14 days of working and the hassle of getting my visa the day before had taken their toll.
Next day I got up too late to get a cheaper room again, they called from reception but i unplugged the phone. No do not disturb sign…
I looked at the map and went walking in Bombay, still not sure why they changed the name. Went north from Colbara, was interesting, walked for about 3 hours. Bought a few odds and ends, nothing exciting, was nice to get out and see a whole new city, a whole new country and for the people that lived there, their whole world.
Third lazy day, another walk, same punjabi thali in the same place, same people asking me to buy their stuff. I have to leave tomorrow, still not managed to wake up early enough to check out.
I get up in the morning!! I have a thali for breakfast somewhere new, I walk up to the train station so I know where it is and use my visa card to buy a ticket to Pune (no big queues but it costs me 40p for the privilege of swiping). I store my bags, bum around some more and go to get the train. Wasted time in Mumbai, too tired, too disorganized, but I’m in India…
Late train, sleep, go to big hotel, people call me sir but its cheap. I learn Brad and Angelina left Pune the same day back to Bombay, I was hoping to meet them for a drink. Next time. I explode my backpack and set up the washing line, the water temperature in the shower is too variable to enjoy.
Call Eric, para gliding instructor, he comes in the morning and sits chatting on his phone. Busy guy. We agree to start that afternoon, he gives me a lift to my new backpacker ghetto near the ashram, I find a cheap apartment and pull my jeans back on. Time to fly.
100 rupees for the majority of the way to the school, i get VJ to take me the rest of the way. Nice guy, works the phones all night for the Americans and flies in the day. Eric is on his phone, we drive out to some fields, hike a small hill, they test the wing and then we move 500m to a flat field. Pointless, I’m in my harness and hanging around. They hook me up, give me the spiel, run here, pull this, feel the wind. Up goes the glider and I pump my legs and keep it up, rinse repeat. They ask me if I’m tired but I keep saying ‘One more’. The sun sets and we stop.
The coannell give me a lift most of the way into town, its hot, dusty and dark. The streets are packed with people, no rickshaws but after an age we find one and I head back to coffee and cakes at the German bakery and sleep. I meet Doctor George in my apartment, he’s at the ashram, digs waking my up at 5am, Israeli Australian, nice guy. I sleep.
Up early for my proper lesson, boots, jeans, gloves, helmet, check… I try for a rickshaw, they want to know where, I don’t know, I know how to get there. We agree a price despite the lack of clear goals, he refuses the meter, its too early it seems. He throws me out 4/5 of the way, I pay and walk. Wave to the locals who never see tourists on this backwater farm track. Im late, Eric is on the phone, but we sort the paper work, sign the forms and head off to the bank. Guess they want me to pay.
1/2 drive to the hill, we try a new one, its too windy, its too late. Anandvitty, the assistant, tries a few tricks. I stand around confused. I read my book some more, not been told to read it but it seems like a good idea. They fall over, give up, Eric chats to some locals for ages while we pack the wing and wait. We’ll try again in the afternoon.
I rent a scooter, fuck the rickshaws, 100rp a day, 1.20. I meet Vanessa who rents the other room in my apartment, nice, interesting, married…
No problem getting to school on time, need to get there quick so we can drink tea and Eric can take calls. Im wondering when he will start to teach me. The 4 of us set off, the guys on the toll bridge wave in anger as we refuse to stop again, Eric knows the builder.
1km to the hill base and 200m up, out come to gliders and on go my gear. I’m told the 10 checks for safety, I get a radio, don’t forget to turn it off when told, those rechargeable batteries are valuable! I kind of understand where to try to land, I kind of understand how to land, I have to be ready to run and turn, flare and fold. Its all very interesting, I wonder if I will remember when I hit the ground.
I pull, up goes the wing and you can feel the wind lifting, pulling, trying to draw you up to the heavens, and what goes up must come down. I run on command, the hill drops away, my heart beats and … I’m flying. No engine, just gravity pulling me down and the wind trying to push me back up. My heart beats on, do I feel fear? Panic? Elation? (obviously!). None of these things, i hang in the air with only string and fabric between me and a fall to my death, my heart beats steadily as if its the most natural thing in the world.
I do a couple of turns when Eric tells me through the walkie talkie, but I can’t make out anything else he says other than ‘right’ and ‘left’ with the wind rushing past. I pick my spot, I think about landing, flare (pull both brakes), run, turn, collapse the glider… The landing field is where Eric wanted me, but its me that got there, I flare as I come in like they do on TV, I run but my brain gets confused and I dont turn. Its ok, the wing comes down anyway in a mess, Ive flown and landed safely and my heart rate didn’t change…
Local boys come running, expert packers and porters so I can get back up the hill quick. They want their 20 rupees, but they don’t know the meaning of the word ‘no’. Oh they understand well enough, but their constant attempts at ‘helping’ me only makes the job go slower. Will you be there when I’m flying in Europe I ask them, but they don’t understand, they want pocket money. Eventually I get it packed, Anandnitty comes down nearby and tells me he only pays 10rp for a porter. Its not that far up, ’10 minutes’ Eric says, I wonder when he last climbed it.
Back at the top i rehydrate and get set up again, its getting late, the sun will set soon. Last flight, and the first one took 2 minutes to get to the bottom. 4 days training, with one on the ground, so 3 x 2 flights, 6 flights for 100 pounds, at 2 minutes a time, 8 pound a minute or 500 pounds an hour? Not quite what I expect, is this cheap still? Carrying, packing, sitting in a jeep…
Next flight is also great, I get lifted up nearly right away, and hardly run. My heart beats slowly, I turn and glide down, no soaring for me, landing practice, always the fun parts…. not. I come in for the field a bit too long, my angle into the wind is ok, I flare ok and am on my feet but the wind is frisky, the glider pulls and I fall scraping my arm. T-shirt is not the best idea.
Thats it, ‘lesson’ over and I once again fight 4 boys off my glider to get it packed. The money is nothing, but am I learning or just being stubborn? I join VJ and Anandnitty who fy down after me and we walk around the hill and back to the house we left the jeep, 2 km or so. VJ is cool. Its dark now, Eric sits and talks on his mobile, we refuse the offer of chai and set off back to Eric’s house. An hour later I’m back in my apartment and wondering what I’ve let myself in for.
Up early next day to make it for the 7.30 am lesson, still jet lagged, still sleeping late, I sit waiting For Eric and reading my instruction book, Anandnitty is amazed that I’m half way through it already, he has never read it, although he says he doesn’t really read. We leave about 8.30, so much for getting up early and missing breakfast… The toll guards shout at us again, I laugh.
This time I have my camera and we have guest from up country. We park a bit closer to the hill and climb up together. There are 4 of us, Eric, myself and 2 guys from Northern India who are here to fly, or buy something, or test something, I never really understood exactly what. I think their gliders were delayed on the train or something so they were just checking out the terrain for later. Happily they have a new DVD video camera they are keen to test so they point it at me for 20 minutes as I prepare and perform my third flight. “Um, can I have a copy?” :p
I get kitted up and stick my camera on the front of my helmet, for a true eagle eye view of the trip down to the rice fields. Ready, set, go! This time I seem to lift, stall, drop, speed up, repeat. Doesn’t feel like a very smooth flight, perhaps its my complete lack of training on this aspect of flying. Eric shouts some instructions into the walkie talkie, but I can’t really hear him the wind is rushing past my ears too much. I guess he wants a few turns and I oblige, I turn left and follow the ridge, but I’m not climbing, just dropping steadily, I figure I’m a little too close to the hill and turn right, only I don’t turn, I just seem to stop and at this point I’m only 15 meters or so above the hillside, I start to drop, pick up some speed as I half figure I’m about to land on a steep hillside, with no training or idea of how to do it. Like an expendable action man on a home made tea towel parachute I swoop towards the ground… and keep going! I could have reached out and touched the flowers as I went past if I wasn’t so convinced I was about to crash.
My heart decides its time to rumble into life, if this lack of control is anything to go by the landing might require some adrenaline and natural pain-killers. Two turns and its nearly time to reacquaint myself with Terra Firma, I’ve only been up 40 seconds and I have to think about where I’m going to land. Not a very thrilling hobby, and I have the hike back up to look forward to. hmmmm. I spy out the target field and guesstimate how I’m gonna get there, ie can I turn a few more times, or do I need to head straight there. The problem is you have to land into the wind, and when trying to hit a tennis court sided field (because you don’t want to piss off the other farmers) with no really experience or idea of if this is possible, it means you’re busily doing complex physics calculations in your head with no calculator, while wondering if you’re going to survive the experience, trying to listen to the distorted instructions from the walkie talkie, scoping out trees you have to fly past (or through) to the target, thinking about the procedure for landing (out the seat, pull the brakes at 5m, run, turn, collapse…), aiming the camera on my helmet for youtube, checking the canopy…. basically its a bit of a head fuck. Not really the relaxing experience I was led to expect.
I glide in, time for a small turn which is a mistake because it lowers my speed, but I’m doing ok for the field… uh oh, whats that hut thing coming up?? Didn’t seem that from the top… going too slow… line of broken trees… never gonna clear them….have to go through… stalling… IM GOIN IN!! No time to think, have to land into the wind, I drift right, no time to turn, I do the best I can, I tag a small tree on my way past, nothing to be done, flare, run, back on the ground somehow. This time my heart is awake!
For my second run the wind isn’t blowing quite as hard or steadily as the previous day and when Eric says to go I run and run, right off the edge of the hill dropping as I go…. no lift, no wind!! I’m going down, the hills is sparsely dotted with spiny thorn bushes, really nasty things to get caught on as you struggle up the hills and I’m dropping right towards one, out of control at 15 mph! My chances of having children flash before my eyes, I put my feet together and kick my way through it! Despite this I gain some speed, i seem to go up a bit, at least I’m not dropping quite so fast. Its seems ok, but no gliding, no wind, its just a quick trip to the fields for this trip.
Tags: thali, flies, tourists, mistake, locals, money, privilege, sleep, bridge, beds, hassle, sun, brakes, bombay, backpackBelize without a map
I finally got my oil changed on my last day in Mexico. I rotated the tyres, changed the air and oil filter and had a confusing conversation about the fuel filter in Spanish. I didn’t care I didn’t understand any more, it was time for country number four on my world tour. After 4 months in Mexico it was time to leave. I had a final breakfast at a local cafe and dumped about 40 coins for my 52 peso bill before heading off the to the border. After seeing all the Belizean cars queuing for fuel I thought it best that I get in the line as well, just as well, I would later learn that gas is $11 a gallon over the border. Why do the Americans complain?!?
The guard at the border hit me for $10 to leave and had the gall to suggest other tourist pay him $25 for the amazing “service” of pointing out where the car import office was. I don’t think so. I sorted out my paperwork and headed over into the free trade zone between the borders. I got my $5 wheel spray and waved off the guys attempt to sell me insurance. I couldn’t just drive through though as one of the customs ‘helpers’ was keen to point out. He jumped in and we went back to get my wheels sprayed, at least that’s where we were going until I told him, to his amazement, that I had already done it. He also wanted to sell me insurance but I said I had no cash. We turned around and went back to the immigration place. Somehow I got away without giving him any money.
I was given 30 days and the same for my car. My papers all in order I drove my car to the border where it was vaguely inspected by the disinterested guard. He mostly wanted to know how much my bike was worth. $100 if I was lucky, I didn’t mention the laptops, camera gear and guitar. All of this business was conducted in English which was nice, its always nice to be understood. I was soon through and went to the office over the border to pick up some insurance. Since its $29B for a week and only $60B for a month I went for the longer time*. You never know. Sadly I learned that the disease of speed bumps has spread to Belize too but the roads weren’t too bad, the lack of signs sent me off down a dirt track that I learned would have soon brought me to my destination but taking no chances, and possessing no map, I turned back to seek out the highway turning I had missed.
A hour or so later I was in Orange Walk and with some local currency in my hand happy to be able to buy a drink. I am slightly ashamed to say I was glad to see the Queens face on a bank note. Kinda feels like coming home somehow. Now should I stay or should I go. Accommodation options in Orange Walk were limited, and most people only stopped to go on the river trip to the local ruins. I had just come from 3 major Mayan ruins so wasn’t that bothered about staying. Belize city was only an hour and a half away with more options, certainly for accommodation so I picked up some supplies and got back on the highway. I say highway… it was a paved road. Mostly without potholes.
Outside the SEA hostel I met the Canadian guy I had been chatting to the previous night but some strange force made me keep going to my other choice, the Seaside Guest House. It sounded so tranquil, serene and peaceful. What could go wrong?
The gate was opened by some aging American dude who obviously had had a few too many beers. He was followed by an older American woman who was shouting at him. I had them pegged as other guests and hoped they wouldn’t cause a problem. I stood in the common area trying to get some service for 10 minutes but there was no one about. It looked like a cool hostel though, lots of drums everywhere and a great library. I found some staff upstairs and it turned out the drunk couple were the owners. Seems like they had been at this all week.
I met up with the other guests, got checked in and a group of us headed over to find some Chinese food. We managed to pick up a local bum who I had asked directions from, which ended up costing me a bottle of coke to get rid of him. We were also on the street it says specifically in the guidebooks not to walk down during the night. 6 people shouldn’t cause a problem, right? Belize city is pretty grotty, the roads are in terrible shape, people hassle you for change everywhere and there is too much trash. Shame really, they have some nice architecture and the working people are friendly enough.
Back at the hostel we found there were another group of guests checking in so we all moved upstairs with a few beers in an attempt to be social. Mitch, the owner, brought us up a couple of drums and we started talking about buying a batch of local rum. His partner Diana had been drunk and embarrassing downstairs with the new guests and she soon came up to have a chat. She then started ranting about being mugged at gunpoint and how the Belizean Tourist Board were going to close them down if they had any more complains. It seems the tourists have been complaining about the hostel. We all wondered why. The other guys seemed to find it highly amusing that Diana seemed to take a shine to me, but at least she was being nice.
It started raining outside and we all felt sorry for poor Mitch who was out getting our booze. He came back and we started doing some serious drinking. Everything was fine, we had the guitars and bongos going.
I found out Vanessa had the Canon 40D and we chatted about photography. She said she was a photographer but I soon caught her out on that one by finding out she didn’t know how to set the white balance :p Faker!
Then everything seemed to go wrong. Diana was getting increasingly drunk and shouting about tourists ripping her off. Mitch managed to calm her down and send her back to bed but she was soon back up and not only shouting at poor Mitch but also now accusing everyone upstairs of not paying our bills. We had a tab open downstairs so thought this wasn’t a problem. I got my guitar out too and was trying to teach Mitch a song when she came over, grabbed the bucket of ice and threw it all over him. I didn’t get wet but I moved my guitar into the wall. I wasn’t impressed!
The rest of the evening consisted of everyone else talking to both of them trying to calm them down but mostly just trying to get rid of them. Mitch wanted to stay with us and chill, Diana wanted to kill him. She came up and kicked the locked door in, was screaming and shouting. We wound up retreating to one of the dorms and whispering behind the doors. Even that wasn’t enough and we got told off for that too. It was a very weird night.
Mitch and Diana. More drama than Mexican Soap.
* 1 day – $12.50B / 2 weeks – $46B
oil change/breakfast/getting rid of change/queue at gas station/border/$25 guard/spray/belize border/insurance-12-30-46-60/wrong road-no signs/orange walk-atm/belize city/heat sink paste/chinese directions/meet the canadian outside SEA/finding hostel/bad roads/drunk owners/hangin downstairs/check in.park up/invited to dinner/olly.jo.vanessa./ATM-shower/belgian couple.john-laurie/walk to chineese/pick up bum for directions/coke/peotry back to hostel/new arrivals downstairs/few beers/row/uncomfortable/go up stairs/rain on baloncy/dog shit/bongos-mitch.diana/diana talking to me/rows restart/mitch goes for rum/guitar/throwing ice/vanessa photographer/diana accusing us of not paying/getting weird/kicking door in/hiding in dorm room/3.3-am
Tags: hostel, signs, shame, laptop, set, gas station, pot, beds, car import, wheel, bordersAll in a days driving
Kalukmul, Mexico
I said farewell to Palenque and headed up the very straight road to some more ruins. I abandoned my plan of skirting the Guatemalan border which is just as well because its pretty dangerous down that way. Would have looked nice on the map though (which is the main thing :p). I was a bit concerned when I had to pay a toll, but it was only 18 pesos, but then they usually charge you a peso a kilometer and it was about 300 to the Belizean border. That was where I decided to go instead of Guatemala first.
First I would stop off at some more ruins, ones that most people miss because its hard to get there without private transport. No suck problems for me though. I stopped at a nearby campground where I pitched my tent for only 50 pesos and had a go at tidying my van up…. again. It never ends :p
In need of a tidy
The place was soon inundated with Mexican ATV drivers who pay a fortune to come and tear up a wildlife reserve. How they get away with I don’t know. Happily a Belgian couple who spoke English also turned up and I ate dinner with them and we arranged to go to the ruins together the next day.
drive to kalukmul/straight/rain/camping for 50p/strange dinner/motorbikers
Tags: 50 pesos, rain, fortune, nearby, eve, tent, thumb, wildlife reserve, bordersYou’ll never catch the Assman alive!
Day 201
San Juan Teotihuacan
Somehow I got up, got my car packed and left Valle de Bravo. The question of whether there was any paragliding to be done was unresolved. I didn’t see anyone in the air during the 4 days I was there. I wasn’t in the mood to find out it seemed.
I had no idea where I was going.
I looked at the my Lonely Planet in a vague attempt to at least work out my next destination. Roland had texted me to say he was on the beach with his friend but that was a bit to far to go and then head back to Mexico city after only 2 weeks. I figured I could make it to the pyramids near Mexico City, they had a cheap camp site and it seemed a good enough idea. My only small problem was getting there, but it didn’t seem to far… Driving in Mexico is easy, navigating is not too bad, but there was only me, and driving and looking at maps isn’t a good idea. I was about to have maybe my worst day in the country…
The first few hours were fine, I followed the road towards the capital intending to avoid it at all costs. 25 million people would be a lot of traffic… I also realised I had another problem, it was Friday. Mexico City has a law, not a bad law either, that restricts cars with the last number on the plate from using the roads for one day a week on a rotating basis. So on Fridays the numbers 0 and 9 were banned. I planned to follow the highways around the capital anyway so I figured I would be ok. As soon as I started getting close to city I became increasingly frustrated in a way I hadn‘t felt before in Mexico. The road signs would direct me to various suburbs but wouldn’t tell me how to get clockwise around the capital. I had to keep pulling over to consult my map which was proving to be reasonably useless, I couldn’t find any of the places on the signs and eventually found myself driving into the city. Not good. I turned around and came 10 miles back out which was a waste of time, then found the toll road and figured that had to take me North and towards my destination. Regretting the 33 pesos it cost me I had found the right road and joined the speedway drivers taking advantage of the comparatively empty road. I figured I would be able to get to the main town to the north of the capital and the carry on to the pyramids but ended up getting off at the next exit.
My map was off scale, I couldn’t find any where on the signs (half of which were obscured by graffiti), I kept trying to steal glances at my map but at one point nearly came off the road and decided I would rather live. I was getting slightly annoyed. I had no idea where I was so drove onto the next sign. I was soon waved over by a police car on patrol. Uh oh. I shook his hand and gave him my licence and then as usual asked if he spoke English. I knew I was in trouble, but I knew also it wasn’t really a big deal. I felt quite justified being in the wrong place at the right time… fix your bloody signs! The cop started going on about the plates and numbers and althought I didn’t know the specifics of what he said I could guess what the problem was right away. I got my dictionary out and replied as best I could to his questions, mostly I said ‘I don’t understand’. After 10 minutes or so of telling him I didn’t want to be there and I was lost he gave me my licence back and told me to keep going and I would get to the pyramids. I asked if I should go back to the toll road once he showed me on my map where I was but he said ‘just keep going’. Maybe this ‘no driving on friday’ law wasn’t that strict after all…
I did another 10 miles or so in thick and fast traffic. I saw a few cop cars but they didn’t see me. I started to relax… The traffic started to get more stop and go and I pulled up to some lights and a couple of cops were standing there just waiting to bust someone. A fat grey haired codger and his younger, equally rotund companion. That someone was me. They took my license and I pulled over. They didn’t speak English either but they had a nice tatty folder explaining the law in English, as if I didn’t already know. They told me I couldn’t drive until 10pm, they also mentioned fines and then wandered around trying to find someone who spoke English. I acted as though I was quite happy to wait around until 10pm, I asked if there were any hotels nearby. I figured I wasn’t in any immediate danger of being arrested. I looked at them a bit closer. Were they really police men? They didn’t have guns or handcuffs. They seemed quite reasonable really. They mentioned ‘Multa’ a few times, the Spanish for fine, but I mostly just ignored the word and asked if I could just hang out until 10. After 20 minutes of hanging around the fat older ‘cop’ handed me back my licence and told me to drive around the block and wait until night. It was about 5pm now and I was still miles from San Juan Teotihuacan where the pyramids are…
I got back in my car, turned left to go around the block… and kept going. It felt so wrong to driving away from the cops but after looking at the map I figured I wasn’t actually in Mexico City anymore. With a deep sense of unease I picked my way through the back streets until I was a few blocks away from my second encounter with the cops. I seriously considered implementing the ‘Assman’ card but then figured what was the chances of getting caught again. I got back on the main road and was stopped at the next lights. This time they really were cops and not just part time security guards dressed up as them.
Bollocks!
Of course they didn’t speak English but I guess they didn’t need to. I pulled over and was directed to a side street where a very seriously looking cop did all the talking. He blathered on for ages, I didn’t understand 10% of what he said but I just played it dumb as much as possible. When he used a word a few times I looked it up in my dictionary. He also kept going on about fines. I tried to bore him by asking where I was on the map, an insisting I wasn’t in the capital anymore. I asked about hotels and waiting around, he told me the fine was 4000 pesos. I ignored that and went back to trying to find out if everywhere nearby had the same law. He said he could let me off for 200 dollars. I said I didn’t have any dollars. I got my wallet out and opened it. Happily it had 20 pesos in it. I pointed to the ashtray full of change I had. He didn’t notice the 450 pesos that was sitting on the seat next to me partially obscured by my guidebook and I ignored it, and covered it up whenever I could. If he asked for my passport I would have been screwed because I always keep some cash with it.
He consulted with his colleague. I guessed I was going to be taking a trip to the station… Instead he gave me back my licence, then gave me directions to the pyramids and… gave me a receipt for the fine I just hadn‘t paid ! I drove off quick before they changed their minds!
This is all you have to do if you’re in DF illegally.
I was still deep in Mexico city suburbs though and I didn’t fancy wasting another 20 minutes on cops who may, or may not, get bored with my lack of Spanish. Lets face it if they took my keys and passport I would have no choice but to pay them. And they had guns. It was getting late, I was tired, I just wanted to get to the campsite and go to bed. I knew I was breaking the law but instead of the police enforcing it properly they were just trying to shake me down for some cash and my licence was giving them all the excuse they needed. I felt I had no choice but to go Assman on them.
I pulled over and removed my licence plates.
In New York I had been on the Kenny Kramer tour, the inspiration for Kramer in Seinfeld, one of my favourite shows. In one episode he accidentally gets sent the wrong licence plates which he put on his car. Kenny also sells these along with his T-shirts and mugs. I bought one myself.
I would never dare to do this in the States but I decided I was either going to the pyramids or to jail, I was bored with listening to crooked cops…
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I made it to the Pyramids eventually via the most convoltuted route you could imagine, cursing all the way, but I didn’t get stopped again! 
Hacking my maps
Day 196
Morelia, Mexico
I spent 2 days messing about with my maps, getting them linked to my blog posts, and its been a minor nightmare. Its not good to have to edit them manually so I’ve been working on automating the whole process through macros. After much effort I finally succeeded and so now I only have to press a few buttons and its mostly sorted out.
So, in case anyone is interested, here is the code. I will do a better post sometime in the future. Maybe. The results should be apparent in a few hours…
Sub Macro1()
‘
‘ Macro1 Macro
‘ Macro recorded 1/19/2008 by Travel Trousers
‘
‘ Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl+q
‘
‘initial cut to 10kmh subroutine
‘Application.ScreenUpdating = False
‘delete first row
Range(“A1″).Select
ActiveCell.EntireRow.Delete
Range(“A2″).Select
Do
If ActiveCell.Offset(0, 5).Value < 10 Then
ActiveCell.EntireRow.Delete
ActiveCell.Offset(-1, 0).Select
End If
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
Loop Until IsEmpty(ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0))
‘delete last row
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 0).EntireRow.Delete
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
‘delete unneeded time and distance columns
Columns(“E:F”).Delete
End Sub
Sub Macro2()
‘
‘ Macro2 Macro
‘ Macro recorded 1/19/2008 by Travel Trousers
‘
‘ Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl+w
‘
‘second macro to halve the output each time it runs
Range(“A2″).Select
‘Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Do
ActiveCell.EntireRow.Delete
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
‘ActiveCell.EntireRow.Select
‘ActiveCell.EntireRow.Clear
Loop Until IsEmpty(ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0))
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub
Sub Macro3()
‘
‘ Macro3 Macro
‘
‘ Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+E
‘
‘make sure we can see the date
Columns(“D:D”).Select
Selection.ColumnWidth = 20
Dim startdate As Date
Dim datenow As Date
Dim days As String
Dim blogtitle As String
Dim blogpage As String
Dim blogloc As String
Dim currcell As String
‘define start of trip
startdate = “13/09/2007″
‘start at row 3
Range(“A3″).Select
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Do
‘check if the dates change
If ActiveCell.Offset(0, 3).Value <> ActiveCell.Offset(1, 3) Then
‘select the row under &
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
‘make a new line for kml info
Selection.EntireRow.Insert , CopyOrigin:=xlFormatFromLeftOrAbove
‘remember active cell
currcell = ActiveCell.Row
‘copy the date now
datenow = ActiveCell.Offset(-1, 3).Value
Range(“K1″).Select
blogtitle = ” No blog entry for this day”
blogpage = “”
blogloc = “”
‘work out the date and then pull the info from the list of points from the K column
Do
If ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Value = datenow Then
blogpage = “http://www.traveltrousers.com/blog/?p=” + ActiveCell.Offset(0, 0).Text
blogtitle = ActiveCell.Offset(0, 2)
blogtitle = “<![CDATA[<p><A href=" + Chr$(34) + blogpage + Chr$(34) + ">" + blogtitle + "</A>]]>”
blogloc = ActiveCell.Offset(0, 3)
‘info found so exit loop
Exit Do
End If
‘move down to continue loop
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
Loop Until ActiveCell.Offset(0, 0) = “END”
‘start back at the top
Range(“a1″).Select
‘& go back to previous cell
ActiveCell.Offset(currcell – 1, 0).Select
‘work out how many days have passed
days = Application.WorksheetFunction.Days360(startdate, datenow)
‘fill out the cell with the info
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 0).Value = “</coordinates></LineString></Placemark><Placemark><name>Day ” + days + “</name><description>” + ActiveCell.Offset(-1, 3).Text + blogtitle + “</description><styleUrl>#msn_ylw-pushpin</styleUrl><Point><coordinates>” + ActiveCell.Offset(-1, 0).Text + “,” + ActiveCell.Offset(-1, 1).Text + “,” + ActiveCell.Offset(-1, 2).Text + “</coordinates></Point></Placemark><Placemark><name>” + blogloc + “</name><description>” + ActiveCell.Offset(-1, 3).Text + blogtitle + “</description><styleUrl>#sn_ylw-pushpin</styleUrl><LineString><coordinates>”
‘move on if succesful
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
End If
‘move down to continue loop
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
Loop Until IsEmpty(ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0))
‘delete the unneeded columns
Columns(“D:N”).Delete
End Sub
Tags: subroutine, trousers, keyboard shortcut, set, morelia, mexico, blogpage, blog, nightmare, a3, macros, maps, time and distance, boardMerry Easter
Day 188
Guadalajara, Mexico
I woke with a jerk this morning. Or should I say this afternoon.
I’ve been in Guadalaraja for over a week, just wandering around in the day, eating at a nice cheap veggie place I found, sitting in the plazas reading and learning Spanish, playing my guitar, but sleeping later and later. I set my alarm and just ignore it. Its a hard habit to break. I was going to leave today but yesterday, when I eventually got up at 2 PM, found all the car parts places were shut due to ‘Semana Santa’ or Easter as its known here. I can’t go driving without mirrors so I was stuck. But I’ve been paying for my room and playing it by ear, they asked how long I wanted to stay at the start and I said ‘Quién sabe’ or ‘Who knows’… They don’t speak English here though, but I know enough Spanish now to let them know when the light stopped working or that I didn’t need the woman cleaning my room every single day. I’d just prefer it if they bought a toilet seat and killed the mini cockroaches in the bathroom. :p
But the owner was hammering on the door just before noon and just before my alarm sounded. He had shown me sign yesterday that said checkout was at noon, which I knew, but I wasn’t checking out… I was reading in my guidebook that you should book ahead for Easter in some places but I didn’t think much of it, apart from when I got woken up and then he wouldn’t take my money for another night. Great. I understood enough to work out the room was already booked, probably for the weekend. What was I going to do now? Well, there is always the beach… only 5 hours drive away.
Guadalaraja is nice, lots of old buildings and ambience. Its been getting busier in the run up to Easter though. Yesterday the center was pedestrianised and it was bedlam, people everywhere and impossible to walk around. I had set off towards the west side with a map in my head and an address, always the best way to find somewhere. I wanted a cable to connect my flash to my camera, since I lost my wireless receiver on day 5 of my trip. They didn’t have any, but I still had to go off to see some upstairs who spoke English so the assistant could ask ‘why? It connects on the pins’. The assistant only works in a camera shop, its not enough for him to understand that Canon sell them, I want one, ‘why’ doesn’t come into it. I guess I should have told him to go to www.thestrobist.com but its all in English.
I started packing my stuff, took down my mosquito net, which is now saving me from daily ravishments by the local insect population (I put it up when I woke to find my forehead bitten a dozen times…. I must buy some anti-malarials soon too….) and got my shit together. I went down to talk to the owners wife, she was either afraid or liked her distance as she kept backing away from me :p She explained I could move into the little room on the rooftop. Fine with me. I finished packing my stuff and then she comes to tell me I don’t need to move after all. Kind of even better, despite the fact that I’m ready to go.
At least I saw a Easter miracle today. I rose from the dead in the morning
Wandering around Guadalajara
Day 181
Guadalajara, Mexico
I was getting close to finishing off the current book I’m reading, an Umberto Eco novel called ‘The island of yesterday’ which was a tour de force of brilliance but was slightly distracting in my quest to be a tourist. I must try not to read when I wake up as there is a natural tendency to fall asleep once more, which is of course what happened. It was afternoon by the time I woke and I wandered up into town to find something to eat. My car was sitting baking in the sun and I opened it up to find the new wax on my surf board had melted and dripped all over one of my camping mats :/
The city center isn’t very far so I decided against putting my bike together and just walked up. The traffic was pretty bad, but this being the second largest city in Mexico would only be eclipsed by Mexico City, a place I’m not looking forward to driving in, but shouldn’t be any worse than anywhere else, it would just be more crowded. People in the states told me that Boston had the worst drivers but I didn’t particularly find that to be true just as people in Mexico warn me that Mexico City is a nightmare to drive in, but I’m not so sure. I’m sure its only as bad as Bangkok or Kamapala in Uganda. More traffic means you go slower but also means its safer. Then you only have the problem with the cars around you. I’ve found Mexican drivers to be rather selfish though, the usual stupidity of third world thinking where everyone is looking out for number one. Yesterday I saw a ambulance sitting at the traffic lights with his lights flashing and no one moved. So either it wasn’t a real emergency or the driver realised that even using his siren wouldn’t get them out of the way. This is the scariest thing I guess, you can crash your car, get some help and the traffic still kills you on the way to hospital.
Surveys show that the vast majority of people consider themselves to be an above average driver but this is clearly impossible. I find it better to regard myself as a below average driver since I am regularly doing what is the most dangerous activity in my life it is better to regard the whole act of driving as a easy route to my own death and I would be better thinking I barely knew how to drive. Hidden oil spills, dogs on the road, blown tires, mechanical failure, gravel, dust and sand, huge potholes…. the list is endless and all waiting for an unwary driver to not be concentrating. Dying in a car crash is surely the stupidest and most pointless way to die as its highly preventable. Dying in a drink driving crash is far, far worse, but we’re in Mexico… It happens.
Maybe I should go shopping, Guadalajara has loads of stores and I think my current wardrobe is rather lacking. At least I don’t have to carry any clothes In the city center I set off in search of something to eat but I didn’t seem to have much luck. Everything seemed so… meaty! I wasn’t going to starve though I’m sure, and I’m happy to back into size 32" jeans once more, maybe I can get it down to 30" before the end of the year, something unseen for 10 years. Kira reminded me about a water/maple syrup/cayenne pepper/lemon juice diet with daily sea water enemas which would probably do it. 10 days of that and I’d be really able to eat like crazy for a few months :p If only I could find some food. I found myself in the wedding dress district which was clearly the wrong place for a hungry tourist although it was packed with hopeful looking girls all window shopping for their perfect dress, whether they had the perfect man to go with it was unclear.
Guadalajara isn’t a bad place to get lost searching for something to eat though, the architecture is stunning, with sunny plazas around every corner and neoclassic buildings towering overhead. Its still typical Mexico though with plenty of street sellers hawking their wares; beggars and buskers. I finally gave up and headed for Sanborns, a slice of the 50′s and somewhere I had eaten in before. I was disappointed to see that they give you Nescafe if you order coffee with hot milk, although I’m not sure whether that was a better option than the weak Americano coffee with those awful non-dairy creamer pots you get. What’s so wrong with milk?? I spent far too long reading but tempered my guilt with going through some Spanish-English flash cards and hopefully sticking a few more words to my dull brain. By the time I was onto the last chapter it was dark outside but it was still early and I hadn‘t even eaten. I then realised that I had gone through a time zone and lost an hour, but this is hopefully the last one I will have to suffer. I really don’t like going east!
Tags: stupidity, traffic, ko, girls, camping, street sellers, ears, mexico, drinks, thumb, rash, brainThe end of the Sur
Day 155
Los Cabos, BCS, Mexico
We finally got as far south as we could in Baja California today, the place known as Los Cabos, the 2 towns furthest down the coast. Tourist city? Traveller hell? The highrises, hotels, expensive bars and the nightmare that is the Hard Rock Cafe all gave it away as hell on earth that the gringos go to to get drunk and have sex. But who am I to pass judgement? As far as we could get and all the kilometres further south only helped the sun to get hotter and more brutal. After a few days without Internet that would be a goal for the day along with the usual problem of finding somewhere to stay. We parked up and went for a walk around town. Near to the harbour the white flabby faces were everywhere, Americano’s on vacation, 2 weeks of release from the burden of being the richest people on earth but still on the edge of ruin. Go Barack, go!
I didn’t get a Valentines Card on the porch of my tent but the sings were all over the town, little children ran around with red heart lollipops not knowing what it meant. I’m sure there were a lot of romantic proposals in town that day but it mostly passed me by. I’m sure my true love was waiting for me somewhere out there in the vast sea of humanity, maybe I had already met her… or maybe today was the day…
Roland had some notion of seeing some arch in the town and since I hadn‘t bothered to read my guidebook how could I gainsay him. Baja is big, I’m small, I’m not going to see it all and since I have someone with an idea of what to do I was happy to release my less immediate goals to other people. We asked one of the multiple tourist information booths where we could find it and they gave us a map and tried to get us on a tour but we fooled them into giving us the information we were after before sneaking off. Waltzing through the harbour we admired the expensive gringo powerboats, but they held no allure for me, I would rather be racing with the wind as I’m sure Sheena was doing right then. We skirted around the guys selling silver necklaces like he had leprosy and made our way around the harbour area. Tourists were flocking like rich seagulls all around us and the other touts ignored us after one look at our clothes. We’re rich too! I silently yelled but they ignored us and concentrated on more affluent white people. Past the port and over to the beach we finally saw some indications of proper life and hints of nature. The pelicans squatted on the small boats in droves, too lazy to even float in the heat and the sand shimmered before us reflecting the sun from the mountains across the bay. That was our destination but somehow we had to get there. The free map hinted at a road but the touts that instantly attached his self to us the moment we entered his ‘patch’ assured us we wouldn’t be able to get there by car. I promised Roland he was lying but due to language issues beyond my control he was soon negotiating a ride on a boat over to the arch. 10 pesos each, 8 with no discussion, ‘tell her 5 and I’ll walk away’ was my suggestion which worked perfectly. It was a small victory however, we soon learned we had haggled down to the standard price. :p
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The glass in our glass bottom boat wasn’t so clean but the sea was clear and quite a few people were diving as there was no fishing in the area and the fish were crazy for the rich tourists and their bread. Just like the Mexican touts. We splashed around by the point, looking at the tourists crammed into their expensive boats on their expensive tours, although I suspect they would be shooting over the waves as soon as they were done. I had reached as far south as I could go on the peninsular and it would soon to be time to head over to the mainland on my way to Cancun and temporarily home.
After our boat tour we went to find fish tacos in town. I had also been working on a plan for some business cards and today was the day to get them sorted out. We found a photography place and sat eating tacos across the road until it reopened at 3pm. I made up a card and then the plan was to put 4 on a 4×6 photograph, print them off and cut them up, 40 cards cost me $3 which was a better option than getting 500 cards and then throwing 90% of them away when my phone number changed in Guatemala.
I already have a new version ready to print, I forgot my email address :p
I hate the Hard Rock Cafe’s even more because of Rod Stewarts Trousers!!
Mexican Parking: Front and back…. 
Maybe I need a car wash…
We went to find a beach to camp on after we had spent a couple of hours in the Internet and eventually found a load of RV’rs off the highway between the 2 main towns. Our Canadian neighbours assured us it was a nice place to camp but we couldn’t find the original planned beach of La Playita, but where we were was good enough for one night. The moon was shining brighter each night as it waxed towards fullness and we drank a few beers and played ‘find the dropped nacho’. Not so easy on a moonlit beach!
drive to cabos/walk around/boat tour/photo cards/tacos/expensive internet/looking for beach/hide the nacho/
Tags: eve, maps, few days, rocks, waves, neighbour, sea, business cardsSan Diego rain
Day 135
Los Angeles
| Somehow I managed to get to the place Sheena was staying at for noon exactly. I warned her not to expect this ever again, although I had spent 15 minutes around the corner tidying up all my junk. She wasn’t completely ready anyway so I didn’t need to hurry. She wanted to see Venice Beach and I didn’t have the heart to tell her I had seen it the day before. The weather was just as crappy as the previous day and we wandered around, took a few photos and then went into Santa Monica to get some food before heading south. |  Even the palm trees have Graffiti in LA. |
Sheena was nursing a slight hangover and professed to be something of a party animal, something I was eager to test out! :p However it was too early for that and San Diego was too far away. She had arranged a place for us to surf with a girl called Joan and after huddling outside Panera Bread trying to keep our lunch dry we set off into a rain shower down the highway towards Mexico. I discovered she had nice taste in music which is good and that she wasn’t getting enough sleep as she nodded off halfway down. There wasn’t anything to see except the highway which I’d already seen and we arrived in San Diego after a uneventful couple of hours.
Joan was fretting over us finding her place but we got right up to the door thanks to my GPS, Mexico will require me to reacquaint myself with paper maps! Joan was fun, never shut up, talked all the time like a maniac. We decided to go out for dinner up in the “gay-berhood”. Not knowing each other very well and with no one wanting to take charge we wandered around 5 Asian places in the rain before I got made the decider and we went for Thai. Well I wasn’t going to eat American junk was I? As we sat eating noodles and curry the rain really started to come down. You could see all the drains overflowing outside in the street and then all the emergency services seemed to be driving past us every few minutes. San Diego gets rain, special report…
Tags: venice beach, san diego, map, heading south, asian places, sheena, photo, emergency services, graffiti, setWelcome to Mexico!
Day 117
Well I left it until the very last day but I finally left the States on my trip south. I wasn’t going to be in Mexico for a long time as I was hoping they would let me back in for at least a while so I could pick up a fellow Couchsurfer in Tucson and help alleviate some of my costs. That’s if they would let me in. First I had the problem of being let out of the US. Well, that’s easy, you just drive over the border, but my problem was that if I didn’t hand in my visa waiver form I would be hard pressed to ever get back in. I grabbed a final starbucks coffee and headed to the border. Parking up I had to walk all the way around the checkpoints and then stand in line waiting to see an immigration officer. When I finally got to her she was so brain dead from asking all the same questions to the Mexicans she even said them to me.
‘”How long are you planning on staying in the US?”
“I’m not, its my last day, I need to leave”
Of course, this she already knew as it was the first thing I had told her. She then asked me all the other questions I had heard each time I went through the border but I wasn’t really worried… I didn’t get a stamp either, I just pray she processed my form properly. Back in Juarez it felt like coming home and I went looking for the highway 2 west and on to Nogales. Using my Mexican map it wasn’t to hard to find, although I took a wrong turn and ended driving about 5 miles along another highway which was split by concrete bollards. I didn’t think I would ever get back on track… That’s when I nearly got myself into trouble. I was so used to seeing a gas station every 20 miles I sent off into the Mexican desert with only a quarter of a tank…
Tags: desert, mexican desert, couchsurfing, laptop, laptops, map, wrong turn, checkpoints, trip south, brain, desertsThe Heart of Darkness
Day 102: Las Vegas
That morning Leon had disappeared off to some hiking place in the nearby mountains and we had a city to explore. He had furnished us with maps and some suggestions but the first thing we wanted was some food. We headed to Chinatown and after a wander around found a nice Thai place to get lunch. This was the nicest meal of the trip so far, we both agreed and since it was Vegas it was pretty cheap. Further into town we started looking for a place to park and drove back into the strips gridlock. We were surrounded by posh shiny new cars and we were sitting in a 10 year old minivan which was still covered with the mud from Monument Valley. I wasn’t embarrassed, I just wished I had my website name on the side :p We took a few wrong turns and ended up by the Sahara and decided to park there. All the casinos have free parking but we had chosen the one furthest from all the others which wasn’t so smart, but I needed the walk since I was getting lazy and we hiked down into town. I wondered how long the $50 I had allocated to my gambling would last….
Tags: laziness, monument valley, montreal, Travel, nearby mountains, mud, mexico, monstrosity, white knuckles, daniella, rain, ella, mapSanta Rampage!
Day 101:Las Vegas
We went back to Macys for breakfast and had some nice waffles and oatmeal for breakfast. We figured it was about 5 hours to Las Vegas give or take and we would gain an hour at the Nevada border. A guy called Leon had replied to our couchsurfing requests but made the offer on the provision we would come out to the Las Vegas Santa invasion with him. Since I missed the one in Austin this was fine by me, and might help to keep me out of the casinos… :p The walls at Macys were covered with prints from a local photographer, I was amazed anyone could charge $2300 for essentially a large poster. I guess you can tell I wasn’t overwhelmed by the pictures. Certainly not for that much, but I guess if he can charge that much people might pay it. On the way to Vegas we went looking for a ‘Ghost Town’. There is a website dedicated to such places and after checking for somewhere on the way we went to a place called Chromium or Chlorine or something. After bouncing down a bumpy dirt road for 15 minutes we found a normal town. There were even people! So much for the Ghost towns of the west. Tempting as it was to kill a few locals to try to make it a bit more authentic time was pressing and we had to get a move on. No one else had offered us a place to stay so it looked like we would be getting santafied tonight.
Did you hear about the dyslexic devil worshipper?
He sold his soul to Santa….
99:Tuba City, Az:Shiprock, 4 Corners, Monument Valley, getting covered in shite…
This part of New Mexico was pure desert, mostly flat when we started out in the morning but we could see a massive rocky mountain looming on the highway as we drove towards it. Checking the map identified it as Shiprock and it looked like a mass of sails towering into the sky. I will have to Google it sometime, but my guess it the remains of a volcano. The state park where the 4 States meet was close by now and we were happy to learn we wouldn’t have to pay the normal $3 entry fee as it was a holiday. Why anyone would want to go there and pay to have their picture taken surrounded by a circle of souvenir shops… I don’t know. 90% of the stalls were closed though so we grabbed our pictures and got the hell out of there. The Grand Canyon was getting close now just another day away and the scenery became more rugged and dramatic. Shiprock was a just a taste of monument valley further up the road. I should look at the map a bit more I guess but that wasn’t my job any more. We drove slowly through a huge valley of dramatic rocks erupting from the red dust, flecked with snow that hadn’t quite melted.
Tags: wheel, supermarket, wheels, mistake, bikes, mexico, madness, volcano, rocks, new mexico, sunlight, grand canyon, maps, curse, red dust97:Santa Fe, Nm:Day trippin’ in the cold mountains.
Santa Fe is an artists town and I had now realized this was where Mel-Mel was based but since she was now enjoying herself in Thailand wouldn’t be available for drinks. The place is full of galleries but we weren’t looking to buy a load of paintings, we’d rather concentrate on seeing something cheap. We took Mikes suggestion and had a drive up to Taos which was a small road with lots of character and spectacular scenery. Heading north we finally arrive in town which was coated in a light covering of snow and pulled up to the tourist information place for some maps and ideas of things to do. There was plenty of suggestions but highest on the list was the local Pueblo where the local Indian people live in traditional dwellings still. There was also the 3rd highest suspension bridge in the US nearby as well as drives around the snow capped mountains and trips up to the local ski fields. It looked like they we about to have a good season too but we were hardly prepared for skiing. That would have to wait.
Tags: suspension bridge, heading north, beers, couchsurfers, thailand, snow capped mountains, ella, yellow bus, dani, santa fe group, karaoke, spectacular scenery, shopping, clear blue sky, taos, miriam, nonsense94:Carlsbad:The end of the road?
When I got up my headache was still throbbing in my skull but at least I could see and think straight, everytime I bent over my forehead would feel like my brain was trying to slosh out of my head. Still I had a job to do and it was the last day of my crazy writing tour of the South, one final line south and then the road to victory north. Daniella would finally be free to direct me as she would, preferably somewhere warm. We left Ozona temporarily to head down towards Mexico but before we made it to the Rio Grande I did a u-turn and the final line was in the making. Could you see my trip from space I have been asked? Probably not, but then it depends on how many pixels wide it was.
Tags: tarmac, weather, u turn, rocks, paint, pumps, google, cold clouds, set, wind turbines, rush, skull, beds91:Abilene Tx:Time to face the music…
We were woken by the rangers truck. I sank deeper into my sleeping bag and advised Daniella to pretend to be asleep. He only stuck a thing on the window though reminding us to pay before 9am. I doubted we would be that efficient. After breakfast, showers and the long overdue washing of my cooking gear we went over to the office to face the music. I was slightly concerned when they said ‘we were just talking about you’ and expected to be tazered or worse for my previous crime so I quickly explained I had driven off without paying at the previous place and they could hardly believe it. Hardly believe that I was owning up to it, its apparently a very common occurrence. They called the other park up while they took my details and payment for the night before and I then had a nice chat with the ranger about what to do. He gave me the address of the head office and said I should send the money with my details and they would sort it out. He also advised me that I could have been arrested but that they didn’t link the park information so if I hadn’t said anything they never would have known. He was extremely impressed that I ‘fessed up. Apparently they have lots of people doing the same at the South Llano River Park too.
Tags: marker, checks, wifi, stomach, Travel, weather, desert, map, hadn, occurrence, decider, scenery, sun, maps90:Junction:7 letters done, 7 to go…
I looked out of the hotel window and could have sworn I was back in the UK. It had been raining and the sun was no where to be seen It was cold and miserable. Bleh. No time to sit around moaning and no chance to jump on a plane to warmer climes, I had a stupid route to complete and by god I was going to do it. Passing by the rollercoasters in Six Flags again we drove for quite a while on the Interstate before turning south towards Junction a couple of hundred miles away. We stopped for some greasy breakfast in a pretty seedy truck stop café and I hoped this wasn’t going to be a feature in the trip now Daniella was along for the ride for a while but she was as unimpressed as I was. At least I finally found out what ‘biscuits’ are, kind of like a scone. You see them advertised everywhere so its nice to know.
Tags: maps, single lane highway, Travel, laugh, trucks, sun, akansas, tiny communities, money, god, guitar hero, locals, rollercoasters, dani, set89:Dallas:Picking up the passenger
I didn’t get an early night in any case and couldn’t get to sleep until about 3am. I had started reading His Dark Materials again and that kept me up later than I should have. I managed about 10am which was potentially too late but I wasn’t going to kill myself getting up to Dallas. I packed up my gear, gave Josh a hug and set off first east to continue the loop of the O towards Houston and then onwards to Dallas. It was a pretty unremarkable drive, slightly overcast but the temperature was a sweaty 28 degrees. The traffic was light as usual but as I turned North and past Huntsville the clouds piled up and the temperature started dropping along with some rain. It seemed it was the end of my luck with the weather and I watched it drop and drop, into the teens and then down to 4 degrees, the coldest since Huntersville a couple of weeks before but at least there the sun was shining. I can’t really complain that I had 89 days of great weather and it should finally get cold in December. I was intending to swing further to the east to make the letter O more defined but in the end I thought it more prudent to stick to the I-45 North to get to the airport at a reasonable time. Daniella was due in at 4.30pm and after driving for 6 hours or so, stopping only for coffee and gas I made it to a chilly Dallas-Fort Worth airport with 20 minutes to spare. Finally a passenger for my Gringo Taxi!
Tags: photo, jails, daniella, sun, dallas fort worth airport, mail, rain, beers, maps, overcast, hell, sleep, taxi, screens, drinks, salt lake city85:Dinosaur Valley:65 Million years ago…
Fool that I was I didn’t put the ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door but it was still very annoying when they repeatedly tried to get in to clean. It was nice to have a proper comfy bed for a change but I had more miles to do. By completing the U I was nearly halfway through my task and despite the 300 miles journey of the day before I checked the GPS and found if I had driven straight across the top of the U on the I-20 I could have done it in just over an hour, 70 miles. I filled her up and got some coffee, which is admittedly growing on me since I started using my own milk instead of that cancer fat juice they give you to put in it. Today Dallas? I roared down the I20 and when I finally got a glimpse of the skyscrapers rising like monoliths in the scrubland ahead I changed my mind. I had a loop of the O to do now and would be back in Dallas when that was done so it could wait. Maybe until the weekend.
Tags: monoliths, garden of eden, footprints, amazement, fingers, photos, glimpse84:Texas:Warm and wet campin’
I stopped off in Quitman on the way back down south to send a Christmas card to my Grandmother and my old UK sim card to Miriam who needed a European number for the business cards she wanted to make for her trip. I then settled back into the boring rerun of the 165 highway back down to Alexandria and then on to Fort Charles and *Texas*! I was going to go further south and follow the coast for a while but that would add another 150 miles or so and I was going to finish off this damn U today or die in the attempt. The latter very nearly came true. I took the chance at the Texas border to use the free wifi and pick up some maps, it didn’t take long for the receptionists annoying greeting to *everyone* to grate and I got out of there. I learned there was a CS meeting in Dallas that night and with that in mind got off the I-10 and turned back north.
Tags: wisps, pizza, pumps, highways, greetings, cotton wool, alexandria, road deaths, money, huts, tarmac, maps, grandmother, decider, cards82:Louisiana:Doin’ the U
Jeff was undoubtley gone when I woke up so I wish him well in South America, but he could be dead in a New Orleans ditch for all I know. I had stupidly left my laundry to the last minute and now checked out but couldn’t leave until it was done. I saw Meagan and she wasn’t talking to me still, looks like that’s another bridge burnt then. I was also told by reception that a ‘blonde guy’ came looking for me in the morning but I have no idea who that was. Maybe something to do with the advert on the board but I guess I will never find out, it was time to leave. I generously offered to drop a fellow guest off where he had left his credit card the night before and was rewardly by being taken by one of New Orleans famous graveyards. See how it all works out? I wasn’t going to be doing a huge amount of miles today it seemed but wanted to get to the upper left side of the U if possible and set off out of the city and back onto the open road once more.
Tags: deserts, forest run, honesty, veronika, traveller, new orleans, bugs, daniella, existence, laundry, quarters, feds, shrimp78:Alabama:Back in Brum
Despite my thermal bottoms and socks I was woefully under dressed for the night and woke up at 5am absolutely freezing, well almost, the thermometer said 0 degrees. I had to get up and start the heater and since I was up I made a cup of tea and thought I may as well get an early start. If I hadn’t taken a shower Im sure I would have gotten away with the heinous crime of leaving the park without paying but the guy got me while I was having a much needed wash and left a note on my windscreen saying I should pay at 8am when the office opened. It was 6.45am and there was no way I was waiting around for over an hour. They have slots at the entrance where you can pay but the ranger saw me in the car park while I was taking dawn photos and took my $11 there and then.
Tags: map, tourists, drinks, photos, Travel, museums, photo, traffic, maps, cars77:Gulf of Mexico:Hunting for hillbillies
Still no complaints about the weather as I made my way through the farms and across the highways south back to the I-10 but there wasn’t really a lot to see. I was eating up the miles but I wasn’t really seeing the ‘south’ that I was expecting. No hill billies sitting on their porches, no crazy people walking around, all rather disappointing. :p Lots of expensive cars, nice houses, lots of money. I had chosen a route that wasn’t taking me past any interesting sights. I would check my map for things on the way and wasn’t really seeing much in that regard. I saw a sign for the USS Alabama battleship site down on the coast and that wasn’t too far off the Interstate so that seemed like a good idea. Of course I got there at 4.15pm and was greeted with the sign telling me the last ticket was sold at 4pm. I still got out and had a look, took a few pictures but it would have been a lot nicer to get inside and have a look.
Tags: weather, map, camping, cars, highways, Travel, maps, money, beds, greetings73:I-26 South:Makin the PLAN!
I woke, took another hot shower since I didn’t know when my next one would be coming and went back into Main Street for coffee and a strategy meeting. Happily they were open this time so I grabbed a big cup and set to work on my map. I needed a bold route across the continent, something exciting and fresh. Something no one else had done before.
Tags: hostel, sleep, mexico, maps, goddess, rocks, photographs, daniella, hostels, Travel, trousers, map, google