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Weeks 11 to 20
Something that did catch my eye was a place that was described in the book as one visitor's highlight of their whole US tour, and apparently had also been compared in favourable terms by one Indian visitor to the Taj Mahal. How could I possibly miss Northlandz, New Jersey's Taj Mahal of model railways? In the guide book it is claimed to be the biggest model railway in the world, and when we went to take a look, my doubts were dispelled. It was absolutely HUGE, completely filling a warehouse-sized building with the most intricate modelling of towns and countryside, cities, mountains, and bridges. Trains of all types ran here and there. I am not at all a model railway enthusiast, but this place was amazing. The guy that owned and ran the place told us that he had spent 26 years creating and expanding what really was his lifetime's work. The attention to detail, and the huge scale of the whole thing was very impressive. Famous visitors who had signed a big whiteboard at the entrance included Rod Stewart, and Neil Young.    Later we met up back at Linda and Brian's house. Brian had to work night shift, so Linda and I went out with Steve and Gina for dinner. We drove out to Bloomfield where we visited Holsten's Ice Cream Parlour. I was pretty keen to see the place, as it is where the very last scenes of The final episode of The Sopranos was filmed. (IF you haven't guessed by now, I am a bit of a Sopranos fan!) The place looks a little different to when the scenes were filmed, but the booth where the family sit (and die?) was marked with a sign, and of course I had to have a picture taken sat there. What a fitting last supper location for my visit to New Jersey.    I set off on my travels again tomorrow, and am catching the Greyhound bus up to Toronto in Canada. Once again, a big thank you to Linda for being such a great New Jersey guide, to her husband Brian, and to Steve and Gina, who were all so wonderful to me.   Spoiler Alert: The video below is of the final scenes from The Sopranos' final episode. Don't watch if you don't know or don't want to know the ending.
The next morning I got up, leaving my two room-mates still sleeping, and I met up with Jordan, who had contacted me through the website, and had offered to show me around Toronto. I checked out of the hostel, and threw my bags into the back of Jordan's pick-up, and we were off for a quick drive around downtown Toronto. The city reminds me very much of Australian cities, not too built up, and fairly relaxed, and the people seem very friendly. After some lunch we headed for the CN Tower, which dominates the city skyline. At the main observation deck, I was fascinated by the glass floor sections. To be able to stand on a clear floor and look straight down is very unnerving. We went higher to the SkyPod, which is the highest man-made viewing platform in the world, at 447m (1,465ft) above the ground. The view is awesome. It was amazing to watch a plane heading directly towards the tower below us, and then turn and land on the runway by the shore.       After decending from the tower, we went for a quick Steam Whistle, a local beer brewed in an old railway turning shed almost right below the CN Tower, which Jordan reckons is the best beer in the world. We then picked up Jordan's girlfriend, Rachel, and headed for Niagara Falls, around an hour's drive from Toronto, and arrived there after dark. I was absolutely amazed to find that the town of Niagara Falls is something like I imagine a mini Las Vegas to be. There are huge hotels, nightclubs, entertainments and attractions, and two big casinos. When I thought about what I had expected, I had imagined the edge of the falls would be forested, with a scenic drive through the trees leading to a big carpark and visitor centre. Jordan and Rachel were very amused by my expectations, and at my surprise at the modern reality. We went for dinner first, and then headed for the falls. The falls themselves are floodlit at night, and look pretty large, but it is hard to get any sort of perspective in the dark, although the noise gives some impression of the power of the falls.    After a bit of a flutter in the casino we booked into a motel for the night, and went back out for a few more beers, and eventually got to bed at around 2am. Really not quite what I had expected of a visit to Niagara Falls, but great fun all the same! In the morning we went back down to the falls to have a look in daylight, and when I actually saw them I was awe-struck. They really are quite something to see, and it is possible to walk right by the edge of the horseshoe section of the falls, and watch the water cascade over the edge right beside you. Very impressive indeed.    Eventually we headed back for Toronto, and Jordan and rachel dropped me off at the backpackers again. A big thanks to you both for the fantastic Toronto introduction, and the Niagara trip, great fun!
I am having some frustrations here in Toronto. I had considered all transport options for travelling across the States and Canada. Do I rent a car, or possibly a campervan (an RV here in North America)? Do I stick with public transport, such as trains and Greyhound buses? Or do I buy a vehicle, and then sell it at the end of the trip, as I have done several times in Australia? My final decision was to buy an RV, therby save on accomodation costs, and be free to drive whenever and wherever I want. So while with Linda in New Jersey, I started to look into the possibility and logistics of doing so. Apparently, since 2001, the US is now very security conscious, and with good reason, of course. Unfortunately, one of the results of this is that in New Jersey, in order to be able to register a vehicle, you have to have a New Jersey driving licence. And to get a NJ licence you need to be able to prove you live in NJ, with addressed material such as utility bills, etc. So I gave up in NJ, and hoped that Canada would be much easier. So far, I have discovered that it is possible to transfer a vehicle, and it doesn't matter what licence I have. However, to be able to make this transfer, I need to show proof of insurance. Easy, I thought! Oh no, there doesn't seem to be an insurance company in Canada that will insure someone unless they have a Canadian driving licence! Hmmm. So I am stumped again. Today I am going to see if I can get US insurance that will cover me in Canada too, therefore meaning that I could buy and register a vehicle in Ontario. Alternatively, I may just take the bus to Chicago, and see if I can do anything there. Surely it should be pretty straightforward. After all, all I want to do is buy and drive a vehicle. All very frustrating. It has always been so easy in Australia. You can simply buy a car, use a backpackers hostel as your address, pay the transfer fee, and off you go. So I am up early again today, and am trying to find an answer to my issues. As I got up I opened the curtains in the backpacker dormitory room, and was greeted by a spectacular view. The CN Tower is right there outside the window, and the rising sun was directly behind it, silhouetting the tower. Very nice, it's not all bad! 
I had met Diane and Dawn in Munich at the Oktoberfest, and Diane had very kindly offered a place to stay in Chicago when I arrived. I took the L, which is Chicago's name for it's metrorail system, and followed my map to Diane's. I spent the rest of the day relaxing and catching up on much needed sleep and then after another easy day yesterday Diane and her friend Linda took me to see my first game of ice hockey. We had a couple of beers first, and then headed for the United Center with the rest of the crowds.  The atmosphere was great, and the game was brilliant, I loved it, particularly when the gloves got thrown off and the punches started flying. Excellent spectator sport. Final result:- local team the Blackhawks beat visiting team Vancouver 4 - 2, so everyone was happy.    Today I finally got into Chicago city centre, but as I arrived the rain started pouring down. I wandered around, but abandoned my original plan of going up the Sears Tower, as the top of it was shrouded in the clouds. The view would have been non-existent.  After an hour or two of wandering, I was soaked through, and gave up, and caught the L back home. The L is brilliant. There is a big circular section called The Loop right around the centre of the city. It is completely elevated above the streets, and cars can travel below. The view of the city from the train is great.    I'm looking forward to exploring the city further on a nicer day.
And today I went into the motor vehicle registaration office to find out what paperwork I would need to transfer vehicle ownership into my name. Would my Australian drivers licence be an issue? No. What about insurance? Not required to transfer ownership. So what do I need? The title document from the previous owner, and a sum of money. Easy! However, my telecommunications system has taken a bit of a backwards step. Despite having made hardly any calls on the US mobile number I got, my credit seems to have been going down rather quickly. I went into the shop today, indignantly demanding to know what was going on. "Have you been receiving any calls?" Well of course I have, I've given out my new number to all and sundry, and happily chatted away to friends and family who have called me. "Ah, well there you go. You pay for incoming calls too." WHAT! I can't believe it! You pay the same rate on a pre-pay phone here for incoming calls as you do for outgoing ones. I was astounded! Nobody else here that I have mentioned it to here has been in the least bit surprised. "Of course you do, what did you think?" Anyway, it was a much nicer day in the city today as I went for a wander around. After 5pm I met up with Aileen, who had contacted me through the website, and we went to the John Hancock Building for a drink. The view of the darkening city was awesome, and we had a few drinks before heading off for dinner.    Later on Aileen took me for a tour of her local neighbourhood, affectionately known as Boystown, due to the huge number of gay bars there. We picked one and went in for a drink, and a game of pool, and were entertined by a camp transvestite singing and dancing competition. Brilliant!    It's just such random evenings that make this whole trip so much fun. At 3pm I was quietly tapping away on my computer keyboard, and by 11pm I was in the campest bar I have ever been in in my whole life, with a group of new friends! Marvellous! 
   At last, things finally seem to be coming together a bit here in Chicago, as Diane drove me out to look at an RV, and I put a deposit on it yesterday afternoon. I went back today to pay the rest of the money and collect the keys, and am now ready to set off on the next part of the journey. Just have to register and insure it tomorrow, but research tells me that it shouldn't be too much of an issue - fingers crossed! Hopefully it will serve me well on the way down south and across Route 66. 
On Friday I did the touristy thing, and went up to the observation deck at the Sears Tower, and later met up with Aileen and her friends Ted and Olivia, and went to see a fantastic group, The Secret Machines at the Metro. They were pretty psychadelic, perhaps a mix of Pink Floyd and Rush, with a pretty big powerful sound. They have played before as support to Oasis, and are doing so again on Oasis's upcoming tour of Mexico. More on The Sectre Machines here: The Secret Machines - website The Secret Machines - MySpace    Yesterday was one of the highlights of my Chicago visit. Diane took me along to the 28th Annual Tavern Tour, which is a huge fancy-dress pub crawl that takes place on the last Saturday of October each year. There were probably around 300 to 400 people, maybe more, all in costume, wandering from pub to pub in central Chicago. It was absolutely hilarious, and some of the costumes were very elaborate. Diane took me to a costume shop, where I got a doctor's outfit, and a bit of fake blood, and I geared up as an ER doctor. In the first pub I set myself a challenge of getting a photograph of myself with at least three different naughty nurses. It turned out to be harder than I thought, and ultimately, I failed, only finding two nurses. However, I did find 8 other doctors, a muppets lab technician, and a psychiatric patient.              Once again, huge thanks to Diane, who has been so kind to put up with me living in her front room for the week, and to Aileen for being a wonderful city guide, and also to everyone else I have met in Chicago who have made this such a great week.
Well if you ever plan to motor west So today is the day, I am setting off from Chicago, and go take that California trip, passing through all of the places listed in the song on the way, and sticking as much as possible to the original Route 66. This is a rough outline of the trip over the next couple of weeks, but as always, is quite subject to change along the way:- 27th - Mon night - Springfield 28th - Tues night - detour to get my tattoo sorted out 29th - Wed Night - St Louis (possible radio interview 8am on Y98-FM CBS radio) 30th - Thurs night - St Louis 31st - Fri night - Tulsa 1st - Sat night - Tulsa/Oklahoma 2nd - Sun night - Oklahoma 3rd - Mon night - Oklahoma 4th - Tues night - Oklahoma 5th - Wed night - Amarillo 6th - Thur night - Albuquerque 7th - Fri night - Grand Canyon 8th - Sat night - Grand Canyon 9th - Sun night - Grand Canyon 10th - Mon night - Grand Canyon 11th - Tues night - Las Vegas ...and eventually onward into LA. For further information on my planned route, take a look at the picture below. You can click on it to open up an interactive map:  Wikipedia: Route 66
The first few miles in any secondhand vehicle are always the most nerve-wracking, as you hope that no major problems are going to reveal themselves, such as overheating, or strange noises from the engine bay. Fortunately all went well, and after only one small detour through the countryside, I eventually found my way onto Route 55 towards Springfield, Illinois. I took it pretty easy, and stopped a couple of times to check out the RV, and all continued to be well, and I eventually made it to Springfield in the late afternoon. After quite a while driving around completely lost, I eventually found the city centre, and parked up to make a quick phone call. I had hoped to have a local Springfield guide, but when I called, Joni was pretty ill, so I was on my own for the evening. She gave me directions to the nearest Walmart, and I headed there and parked up. Walmarts superstores are very RV-friendly, and at most of them overnight RV parking is allowed in their securely monitored carparks. I confirmed that I would be able to stay there, and headed off for dinner. The Cozy Dog Drive-In is, apparently, the birthplace of the original corn dog, which Joni had recommended I should try. The corn dog is basically a hotdog sausage on a stick, with a coating of corn-based batter. A bit odd, but quite tasty. The drive-in was filled with an amazing array of Route 66 memorabilia.    Back at Walmart I bought some food supplies, some pots and pans, and settled in for the evening. It was pretty cold, and I woke in the middle of the night, absolutely freezing, despite all the clothes layers I was wearing! I really need to figure out how the RV gas central heating system works! I woke the next morning, ready to take a detour to visit Josh, who had contacted me from Indiana, and before setting off I went back into Walmart and bought a Magellan GPS navigator - hopefully that should prevent too many more navigational problems! 
Josh owns and runs "Eternal Ink Tattoo", and he had kindly offered to help out with my goal of sorting out my tattoo. For further details on the original tattoo, and the need to "sort it out", you can take a look at the goal details by clicking here. Suffice to say that the tattoo was pretty old, and no longer looking it's best. Josh looked pretty much as I expected he might, a bearded, tattooed, Harley-Davidson biker-type guy, and he greeted me warmly and took me into his shop. We chatted for a while about travelling, tattoos, guns, and life in general, and we seemed to get on very well pretty much straightaway. We seemed to have alot in common in attitudes and backgrounds. Josh had a couple of ideas with regards to covering the tattoo with something new, and after some discussion, and alot of leafing through his artwork, I picked another lion's head, but quite a bit bigger and more elaborate than my previous one. It would cover the old one very well, was Josh's opinion. So I took a seat and Josh went to work. It's a bit painful, but not too bad, although after half an hour or so I did ask how much longer it was likely to take. The job was finished within an hour, and I have to say that the final result looks WAY better than the old tattoo, although when I look at it in a mirror my initial reaction is surprise, as it is quite a bit bigger. I'll get used to it soon though, I imagine.       Josh is pretty keen on his firearms, and a strong supporter of the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution, the right to bear arms. He showed me two small pistols he had, one in his boot, and one in his pocket, and another larger pistol that he carried under his arm in a holster. Later we went to his house, where his wife Taryn cooked us a lovely Mexican dinner, and Josh showed me an arsenal of weapons he had at home, including an assault rifle and a pump action shotgun. I was absolutely amazed by the weaponry he laid out on the sofa. Being from the UK originally, and currently living in Australia, I have never known anyone that would have such a cache of weapons. Unfortunately time was against us, as I had arrived a bit too late in the afternoon, and Josh and I both had stuff we needed to do the next morning, so I never got a chance to fire any of the guns, but Josh had been pretty keen to try and get out to a friend's property and put some targets up and let me have a go with them. It was such a shame to miss such a fantastic opportunity. Next time maybe?    The next morning Josh ran me about a bit to sort out some money at the bank (a bit tricky, as I still don't have my cashpoint card!) and to get problem with my computer fixed by the local computer whizzkids. All to soon, it was time to set off, as I wanted to get to St Louis before dark, so I said my farewells to all at the tattoo shop, and was on my way. A huge thanks to Josh and Taryn, and their three wonderful kids, for such fantastic hospitality, and also to Josh's friend Jordan for the bed for the night. Great fun, fantastic tattoo. Hope to see you again soon. If you are anywhere near Indiana, and are considering some bodily artwork, Josh is your man. Great work, genuine guy. Contact him at: eternalinktattooz@yohoo.com.
When we were finished I drove into town, and after a quick look around Union Station, once the largest and busiest passenger terminal in the world, I parked up at the Mississippi riverfront, just by the Arch. The Arch is absolutely incredible! It is huge! You can go inside, and a lift/train hybrid system takes you up to the top, where the view is breath-taking. The "how it was built" movie was fascinating too, and the whole thing is all the more impressive having beeen constructed in the early 60s.        It looked like I wasn't going to meet anyone in St Louis, as just like Springfield, my potential local guide, Francesca, called to tell me she was ill. I took her advice though, and went on the Anheuser-Busch Brewery tour - why miss out on free beer? On the tour I got chatting to Rene and Jeff. Rene is achieving one of her goals tonight, by staying in a haunted house. She is very excited, and promised to email me to let me know how it goes, as it is one of my goals too! Good luck Rene! Earlier today, after the radio show, Tara contacted me via email, and in the evening I met with her and her husband for dinner at well known local restaurant O'Learys, which was also one of Francesca's recommendations, and which had been mentioned a few times during the radio show interview. It was really nice to have someone offer to meet for dinner, as my other option was a lonely tin of soup in my chilly RV! Thanks guys!    Off to bed now in a quiet carpark hidden away behind the restaurant.
I stopped in Joplin for lunch and to refuel, but only because it is mentioned in the original lyrics of the song "Route 66", although not in the Rolling Stones version. I finally crossed from Missouri into Oklahoma at around 4pm, and less than an hour later was at my destination, thanks once again to the efficient Magellan GPS. Rose from Oklahoma Travel Services had contacted me several months ago, and had sent brochures on Oklahoma and Route 66 attractions to me while I was in London. She had very kindly arranged a couple of nights for me near to tomorrow's destination, at the very scenic Sequoyah State Park, just outside the town of Wagoner. I drove into the park, and couldn't find anyone at the office, so went and found the RV area, close to the shores of the lake. There was practically nobody else about, so I picked a scenic site right by the water's edge, and connected the RV to the water and power supplies. This was the first time I have done this, and everything works perfectly, lighting, heating, fridge, shower. I am so pleased with the RV, it is becoming like a home now. As I was setting up, four deer came wandering past. It's been a very warm day, and it was still warm in the early evening, so I went for a refreshing dip in the lake, then watched the sunset and made dinner. Very nice.   
But in the days leading up to today, I hadn't heard from Aaron, and I only had an email address, no other contact details at all. So when I woke this morning I searched through the emails from Aaron for a clue as to when and where to look in Wagoner. After a bit of rudimentary detective work I found the right place, and introduced myself to the first guy I found with a hawk on his hand. It turned out that Michael had been expecting me, and he introduced me to Sifin, his Krider's Red- Tailed Hawk, an beautiful bird. Before long he had a glove on my hand, and Sifin was sat there quite happily. I met a couple of other members of the group, and was introduced to Bob, the leader of the day's activities. We chatted for a while, and he asked what my goal was specifically, which was to have a hawk fly to my hand, land on it and eat something. "Okay, let's make that happen now," he said, and set me up about 30 metres away with a glove with some meat on it. His majestic female Harris Hawk, Valkyrie, flew from his hand, and swooped low to the ground towards me, rising up at the last second to land on my hand and eat the meat. What an incredible sight to see such a large bird coming straight towards you.    After that we headed out into the bush to go hunting with Valkyrie. This involves the hawk flying along on it's own above a group of people beating the undergrowth with sticks to try to flush out any rabbits or othe small game hiding in there. It was wonderful to watch the hawk and handler work together as a team, with the hawk somtimes following just behind the beaters, or sometimes flying ahead to sit high on a branch and watch the ground in front of the line of beaters as we approached. Valkyrie did not catch anything on that run through as we did not find any game, but later in the morning CB's young Passage Red-Tailed Hawk, possibly called Heather, but name not quite decided on yet, caught a small snake and a rabbit.    What an amazing experience, and what a privilege to be able to go along and take part. Thanks to all who helped out and made me feel so welcome, particularly Bob, Michael, James, Aaron (in his absence), the guys with cameras whose pix I have used (links below), and everyone else who made this such a memorable experience. Chris Saxton Photography Michael Veach Photography Danny B Photography
That evening I drove down to Muskogee where Bob was working with his hawk Valkyrie at the Muskogee Castle Haunted Halloween Festival. I didn't really know what to expect, but was amazed and amused at the huge event. The "castle" is an elaborate reconstruction of a medieval castle and village, filled for Halloween with a huge staff in both period costume and Halloween makeup. It was lit by fairy lights, and was really busy, filled with families having a frightful time! I sat for a while with Bob, and he took me to Domus Horrificus, a dark indoor maze peopled by all sorts of horrors - great fun!    I stayed overnight again at the State Park, and after some more hawk flying the next morning I set off for my next destination, in the Oklahoma farming area to the north-east of Oklahoma City. Oklahoma has the most drivable miles of the original Route 66, and I managed to get off the Interstate and follow the original route, taking my time and soaking up some of the atmosphere.    Sue and I had emailed back and forth several times during the past few months, and I was looking forward to seeing some of the farming lifestyle, of which I really have very little previous experience. Sue and Nancy live on an 80 acre farm where they raise dairy sheep and goats organically, selling some for meat, but planning to produce cheese in the near future. One fascinating aspect of their farming method is the use of Italian-bred Maremma dogs, which live permanently within the flock and protect the sheep from coyotes and bobcats. My farm visit was great fun, and activities that Sue and Nancy consider work were completely new experiences for me. I got to move bales of hay with a tractor, ride around on quad bikes, and got to shoot a 12-guage pump-action shotgun, both buckshot and slugs (which has a heck of a kick!), and do some target shooting with a .22 rifle. Buying the ammo was an eyeopener - just go to the local supermarket and look for the huge display of guns - no ID required to buy ammo!! I was pretty pleased with my targets, with most of the shots being within the two centre circles of the targets (although we weren't really that far away from them!)       A huge thanks to Sue and Nanc for being such fun hosts, and for offering such a wonderful opportunity to try out some fantastic new experiences. And today is a pretty interesting day in America, as it is Election Day (you may just have heard something about this?) Everyone is very excited, and Sue was up and off first thing this morning to get her vote in. Whichever way it goes, there seems to be a real feeling of history-in-the-making today.
   In the city itself I found a place to park right by the Oklahoma City National Memorial, built in remembrance of the events of the morning of 19th April 1995, and the aftermath of that devastating bombing. I wandered around the outside sections of the memorial, but did not think I would have time to look inside, as I was meeting Michelle, who had kindly offered to meet me after she finished work and be my Oklahoma City guide. I took a wander down through the business district, and on into Bricktown, following the canal through the pub and restaurant-filled part of the city. Eventually I met up with Michelle, and we went for a couple of beers in a great bar, which had a couple of good English bitters on the menu. Wonderful. We made plans for the next day, including returning to the memorial for a proper look inside the museum, and after a bite to eat it was back to my RV, which I parked once again in Walmart's carpark for the night. I am going to add Walmart as an unofficial sponsor of my trip - what a fantastic overnight RV option!    The Memorial Museum was very well thought out, and took us through the events of the day of the bombing, and the aftermath, and was incredibly moving. Just like I had been after visiting the 9/11 memorial in New York, I was pretty quiet and thoughtful afterwards. That evening, I met up again with Rose and Lance at their house. I had first met them out in Wagoner at the weekend, and they had kindly offered accomodation in Oklahoma as I passed through. The next day I met with Lorraine, another internet contact, for lunch in the city before heading onwards on the journey. Somehow I forgot to bring my camera to lunch, which was at a wonderful sushi restaurant - sorry Lorraine! Thanks again to my wonderful Oklahoma guides Michelle, Lorraine, Rose and Lance, and of course to Walmart too, my unofficial accomodation sponsor!   
Among the new items in my Inbox was an email from Russ who lives in the northern suburbs of Oklahoma City. He had been following my progress, and had just taken a look at my site and seen that I was in Oklahoma. He had read my previous blogs with interest, particularly noticing my fascination with the amazing US gun laws and gun culture. I had been unable to go shooting with Josh, my tattoo-artist friend in Indiana due to time constraints, but had managed to shoot both a pump-action shotgun and .22 rifle with Sue and Nancy on the farm. Russ suggested that if I had not yet left Oklahoma, he had a couple of pistols and a semi-automatic assault rifle that I would be welcome to shoot if I wished. Absolutely!! A quick couple of phone calls later new plans were in place, and the next morning we headed out to the shooting range. There we met a couple of guys who were setting up for a competition that was taking place that morning, and after a quick chat I was offered the chance to fire some sort of Russian .22 target rifle with a huge telescopic sight. The gun was set up on padded stands, with a handle to adjust the aim, so the rifle could be fired without holding it at all, and therefore there is no movement of the gun at all as the shot is taken. I fired two shots, the second bullet going straight through the hole made by the first - amaingly accurate. Russ and I moved on to the pistol range, and the first gun he produced was a .45 Springfield Automatic pistol, or 1911 A1 45 Automatic, along with a shoulder-holster and extra magazines of ammo. He gave me a quick safety run-through, fired a few shots, and gave me the gun to try. The first two shots both knocked one of the metal targets down, and I was very pleased. However, it was just beginners luck, and after reloading, I had some frustrations! He had brought enough ammo to start a war, and I happily blasted away at the targets and reloaded, while Russ got the next gun out. I looked on wide-eyed as he fired the Magnum .44 - "the most powerful handgun in the world", according to Clint Eastwood in the Dirty Harry movies. The thing was huge, and seemed to have quite a kick! When I fired it, the kick wasn't as bad as I expected. After a bit of practice with it, I found that I was hitting the targets pretty regularly, and even managed to get all six targets with six bullets on one reload. It was alot more accurate than the .45, because of the longer barrel. Eventually we moved onto the rifle range, and Russ got out his AR-15, a .223 calibre assault rifle, which is the semi-automatic version of the M-16. It had a telescopic sight with a red-dot inside that was pretty accurate. The magazine held 30 rounds, and it would fire pretty much as quick as you could pull the trigger.    While we reloaded the magazines we chatted a bit, and I found that we had incredibly similar backgrounds, particularly in regard to what brought me to the point of putting my life up for sale on eBay, and then setting off on my 100 goals voyage. We fired some more, and then headed off for a late breakfast, before it really was time to get on the road towards Texas. In his original email to me Russ claimed not to be a "gun nut", explaining that his brother had way more guns than he did. I'll let the pictures do the talking, you decide for yourself!!    What an amaing experience, and quite a thrill, to be able to fire such stuff. Huge thanks to Russ for the opportunity to do so.
But I had been told that I should go about twenty miles south-east of Amarillo to see Palo Duro Canyon State Park, so after another night in another Walmart carpark, this time with at least ten other RVs, I was up early and off to see the canyon. It really is like a scene out of a western movie, and you can imagine the buffalo and the indians roaming the magnificent landscape before the palefaces arrived to change things forever.      
   On Sunday morning I met with Sharon, who had contacted me through the website, and was keen to show me around Albuquerque and the surrounding area. We decided to head for Santa Fe while the weather looked good, and headed up into the hills. I was surprised to find that Santa Fe was at a height of over 7,000 feet, and was quite a bit cooler than Albuquerque. It is an incredible place, with a very Spanish/Mexican heritage, and filled with art galleries and Indian craft stores. We wandered around the town centre, looking at the huge range of goods on offer, and eventually, following a local recommendation, made our way to a very popular local Mexican-style restaurant for lunch. After lunch we headed down Canyon Road, filled with an amazing array of art galleries. Sharon told me to follow my nose, and decide which one's to look in, and I did so, suggesting that we go into Chalk Farm Gallery, where we found the work of Russian artist Vladimir Kush on display. It was absolutely fantastic, very surreal and imaginative, a bit Dali-inspired, and incredibly beautiful. Afterwards, I did not really want to visit any other gallery, as I felt that anything else afterwards would have been a bit of a disappointment. Sharon was very impressed with my choice - "You're very intuitive." I think maybe I was just lucky.    We headed back to Albuquerque, visiting some of Sharon's friends on the way, who lived in a couple of amazing homes right at the foot of the mountains. A quick early evening tour of Albuquerque's downtown areas was followed by a bite to eat in the Frontier Diner (Mexican again!), and it was time for an early night (Walmarts again!), as I had alot of travelling planned for the next day and wanted an early start. I wish I had more time to look around New Mexico, it looks pretty spectacular from the brief introduction I have had, many thanks to Sharon once again for her great guiding services.
   However, the drive through New Mexico on the almost desolate parts of old Route 66 was quite stunning, and very atmospheric. There were hardly any other vehicles on the road, which veered away from the interstate. Crossing New Mexico the road climbs to over 7,000 feet, and there was snow on the ground. Along the roadside there were all sorts of abandoned buildings, such as petrol stations and old motels. Very atmospheric indeed, and slightly melancholic.   
I crossed the Dividing Range at over 7,000 feet, and eventually headed into Arizona, which is a spectacular journey. I had planned to take a small detour to see the huge meteor crater just dout of I-40, and was pleased that I did. It was very impressive, and I don't think the pictures really do it justice at all.    I finally made it to Flagstaff, Arizona, and I didn't forget Winona, although it would appear that most of the rest of the world has already done so. It is a very small place, and I was out the far side of it almost before I had realised I had arrived there, and had to turn round to take a picture of the wonderful old bridge, no longer open to traffic.    So I got into Flagstaff just in time to make it to the bank as planned, hopefully to collect my debit card for my US bank account. But it's not here! It hasn't arrived yet, and I plan to head out for the Grand canyon early tomorrow! Oh dear, I'll have to try to get it sent on to me in Las Vegas perhaps. I had a very quick wander around Flagstaff, but it was getting dark and cold, and I found a warm, inviting Irish pub with free internet access, and so have settled in for the evening. Flagstaff is a bit snowy, and has a lovely early-season ski resort feel to it, very wintery, with towering mountains in the background. I will try to have a look around tomorrow before heading out towards the Grand Canyon.
Today is 11th Novenber, Remembrance Day, and so pretty much everywhere is closed, and downtown Flagstaff is still and quiet. It is a crisp clear day, and there is not a cloud in the sky. There is snow on the peaks in the distance. It is absolutely beautiful here. And I am going to see the Grand Canyon today, another goal that I have had for a long, long time!! I am excited!   
It was a beautiful crisp clear morning as I drove up from Flagstaff, and by the time I arrived at Little Colorado River Canyon, just before the Grand Canyon itself, it was lovely and warm. I had been very lucky with the weather, which could have been awful at this time of the year.    It was lunchtime by the time I entered the National Park, and my first view of the canyon left me breathless. It is HUGE! Words really cannot describe this place, so I will let a few photos try to instead, but I know that they too do not do this place true justice.       I eventually drove along to the Grand Canyon Visitor Centre, and found a place at the campsite to park up, and caught the free shuttle bus back to the canyon rim to watch the sun set. It was lovely to see, but I felt pretty much alone, as this is the first goal that I have achieved without anyone coming along to join me. And as the canyon walls became tinged with orange, I became slightly tinged with melancholy. It would be nice to share this with someone. I was reminded very much of the words of Christopher McCandless in the movie "Into The Wild", which I have written about before here, when he realised:- "Happiness is only real when shared."     The next morning I was up before dawn, and wrapped up well, headed back to the canyon rim to watch the sunrise. Absolutely beautiful. It was another beautiful crisp, cloudless morning. I really could not have hoped for better weather for this visit.    The words of acclaimed geologist Clarence Dutton, written in 1882, sum up very succinctly my feelings about the Grand Canyon. "The Grand Canyon at first bewilders and at length overpowers. Dimensions mean nothing to the senses, all that we are conscious of is a troubled sense of immensity."   
It's pretty spectacular, and well worth the time it takes to park up and take a walk across it.    They are in the process of building a huge bridge across the Colorado River Gorge just downriver from the dam, which I guess means that in future driving across the dam may no longer be a possibility. I'm glad I had a chance to do so.    Once again, the scale of things is pretty staggering, and it takes three pictures rather than just one to capture the whole vista.    
I read more about this event on the Improv Everywhere website, and was interested to discover that the event had been used as inspiration for an occurence in the TV series Law and Order: SVU. You can read more about that particular episode, which starred Robin Williams as a special guest here: Law and Order: SVU: Series 9, Episode 17: "Authority". The episode aired on 29th April 2008. The people at Improv Everywhere had no idea that there event was being used in this way, but were flattered, and posted a link to a video clip from the episode. That video used to be available here, but at the moment the clip shows as "temporarily not available". Maybe Law and Order: SVU have issues with their "original" material being shown without proper licence!! Anyway, I was contacted recently by Suzanne, who suggested that I should watch a recent episode of CSI: New York, and last night, having a bit of spare time on my hands, I followed her advice. Very interesting. This is my original "ALife4Sale" video, which was posted on 14th March 2008: The episode of CSI: New York: Season 5 Episode 5: "The Cost of Living", which was aired on 29 October 2008, can currently be watched in full online here. The episode synopsis reads as follows: While investigating the death of a young archaeologist who may have unearthed the answer to one of New York City's oldest murder mysteries, the CSIs discover anything can be purchased on the Internet, even someone else's life. Here is a small clip from the episode. I wonder how long it will be until this clip, featuring the script writer's "original" idea, is "no longer available" on YouTube because of copyright issues!! Well, they do say: "Immitation is the sincerest form of flattery." I'm pretty flattered! Footnote: Less than three weeks after I discovered the original Big Freeze video on YouTube, I had the opportunity to take part in a Big Freeze in Perth on a very rainy Saturday. More about that here. Also, on my recent visit to New York, I made a point of going to take a look at Grand Central Station too, in part because of my interest in the Big Freeze. More here.
It was dark by the time we landed, and on the ground the temperature was below freezing, and the wind was blowing hard, and I was still in just a t-shirt! Fortunately I had packed a couple of sweatshirts and a jacket in my small bag. My plan was to pick up a rental car at the airport, but the prices were somewhat alarming, so a couple of minutes with the phone directory produced a company called Rent-a-Wreck. That's the car hire company I'm after! Ten minutes later Scott arrived at the airport in a nice little Kia, at the bargain price of $32 per day, and after a brief bit of paperwork, and a few directions I was off. It had been snowing, and the roads were a bit treacherous, but I soon found a motel, and a nice diner next door for dinner, and settled in for the evening to plan the next few days, which were starting to look very full. There seems to be plenty to see and do near here. On Saturday morning the first port of call was Mount Rushmore, to achieve the goal I came here for. Once again, it dawned fine and sunny, and I drove up into the scenic Black Hills of South Dakota. When I arrived at Mount Rushmore, I was told the weather had been horrendous the day before. I really am being blessed by perfect weather! Mount Rushmore really is quite spectacular, the scale of the accomplishment is quite breathtaking, and very inspiring too. It really is incredible what people can achieve when they have a dream. I first became aware of Mount Rushmore as a child when my dad introduced me to the Alfred Hitchcock 1959 classic, North By Northwest, starring Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint. Well worth watching - highly recommended.    Mount Rushmore was carved by sculptor Gutzon Borglum, and one of the things he wrote about his work was, "Hence let us palce there, carved high, as close to heaven as we can, the words of our leaders, their faces to show posterity what manner of men they were. Then breathe a prayer that these records will endure until the wind and rain alone shall wear them away." The four presidents depicted are, in the order they appear on the sculpture, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, but in order of presidency, the last two are actually the other way around. Their time as president, and the signisicance of the inclusion of each as part of the national monument are given below: George Washington - 1789 to 1797 - the struggle for independence and the birth of the Republic Thomas Jefferson - 1801 to 1809 - the terretorial expansion of the country Abraham Lincoln - 1861 to 1865 - the permanent union of the states, and equality for all citizens Theodore Roosevelt - 1901 to 1909 - the 20th Century role of the United States in world affairs and the rights of the common man     After Mount Rushmore I drove on to see the incomplete sculpture of Crazy Horse, about 17 miles further along the same road. I had been recommended this quite some time ago, when I first launched the 100goals website, and wrote about it in a blog article here. Crazy Horse is another breathtaking sculpture, the scale of which is absolutely staggering. Apparently all four president's heads of Mount Rushmore would fit in the area of Crazy Horse's head alone! It was begun in 1949 by sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski, who died in 1982, and work continues today, all funded primarily by paying visitors. Ziolkowski believed that Crazy Horse should be a nonprofit educational and cultural humanitarian project built by the interested public and not the taxpayer. I certainly feel proud to have made my contribution, and would love to come and see the completed work one day.    I loved the HBO TV series "Deadwood", and it was only on the plane on the way up to Rapid City that I found out that Deadwood itself is pretty close by. So after seeing Crazy Horse I headed over there, and discovered that the town had had a big snowfall recently, and the streets were piled high with slowly melting snow. I arrived just in time to see the most spectacular sunset over the city, viewed from Mount Moriah Cemetery, the infamous "Boot Hill" where "Wild Bill" Hickock and Calamity Jane are buried. It was very atmospheric up there as the darkness deepened, not another soul around, snow piled deep on the graves in a silent cemetery that was closed for the winter. I sat quietly for a couple of minutes with Bill and Jane before heading back into town to look for a motel. On the way down the hill I stopped when I saw a deer stood stock-still under a streetlight in the middle of a snowy sidestreet, and we just stared at each other for a minute. What a place! I couldn't resisit going out to one of the casinos that evening, and playing a few hands of 5-card stud, but fortunately the evening did not end with the pushing back of chairs and the quick-drawing of pistols, just me wandering back to my room through the snowy streets a few dollars lighter. I think I will need to brush up my game before taking on my $1,000 poker game goal!    I first became aware of the Devil's Tower when I saw the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, in which the main character Roy Neary, played by Richard Dreyfuss, becomes obsessed with the mountain after a mysterious encounter. It is a very striking peak, and I decided to take a drive into Wyoming to see it. The first view of the tower in the distance does cause a gasp, and on driving closer, the amazement does not diminish. It is an incredible sight, towering above the forests below. I took a walk around the base, which takes about an hour, and in that time have decided that one day I want to climb the tower and stand on the summit. In the visitor centre, I found some words which reflected my feelings about the place, and echoed words I quoted about the Grand Canyon too. N Scott Momaday wrote in 1969, "There are things in nature that engenger an awful quiet in the heart of man; Devil's Tower is one of them."    On the way back to Rapid City I made a detour back to Mount Rushmore to see the monument at night, lit up by powerful floodlights - quite spectacular. But it was very cold, and I didn't hang around too long, the appeal of a warm motel room was strong! Monday morning - what's this - clouds? I wondered whether to head out on my planned journey for the day, but eventually decided to do so, hoping the weather might improve. My first stop was at the historic Minuteman II Missile site about 70 miles east of Rapid City. The tour around the missile control site, and the missile silo which still houses one of the decommissioned missiles was fascinating, and very enthusiastically presented by knowledgable guide Chris. At one time during the height of the Cold War, ther were 1,000 of these missiles ready for immediate launch at a moments notice, and each missile warhead contained a nuclear explosive equivalent to 60% of all bombs detonated during WW2, including the two nuclear ones!! There are now Minuteman III missiles out there somewhere ready for use, with even bigger nuclear payloads aboard!    My final place to visit before returning the car and heading for the airport was the South Dakota Badlands. I had only heard the name before, and did not really know what to expect, but what a place! The name comes from the Lakota Indian name for the place, "mako sika", which literally means "land bad", refering to a difficult area to travel through because of the rough terrain. Have a look at the pictures to see what they meant.    All in all, I have had a fantastic weekend in South Dakota and Wyoming, and feel I have packed more than I had ever expected to into the couple of days I have had here. I just wish that I had come a little earlier in the year when it wasn't quite so cold! But maybe if I had done that, there would have been so many more visitors at these amazing places. At almost every place, a couple of minutes walk away from the visitor centre would mean you could be totally alone in an absolutely incredible place! I think I have been incredibly lucky to have such fantastic weather at this time of the year. A real stand-out weekend! Mount Rushmore Information on US Presidents Crazy Horse Memorial Deadwood (some great panoramic 360 deg photos here) Devil's Tower Minuteman Missile Site Badlands Rent-a-Wreck details 
I arrived in Vegas on Thursday last week, and drove along The Strip in the RV as I came through the city - that was quite an experience - it's pretty busy! I was staying with Simon, an English guy now living in Las Vegas who had contacted me through the website and kindly offered me a spare room here. I had had an early night on Thursday, and was up and off early on Friday, heading for the airport and my South Dakota weekend away, so had not really got to see downtown properly. So as I flew back in last night, I called Misty (more about her to follow in a later blog...), and she picked me up as she was heading for work in a restaurant in The Palazzo. I left my bags in her car, and went to wander around. The place is quite extraordinary, pretty much as I expected it to be, but ...    ...once again I was achieveing a goal on my own, and somewhere like Vegas really does need to be experienced with someone else, whether it's with a group of mates to go and play poker or roulette, or with someone to go to a restaurant and see a show with. I wandered around, and enjoyed the sights, went in several casinos, and had a bit of a play on the slot machines, but was sort of glad when Misty finished work at 2am, and I hitched a lift back to Simon's house. I think perhaps I was pretty tired after a very long day, but after having seen some incredible natural (and carved) scenery over the last few days, the whole experience in Las Vegas had a bit of an air of unreality and falseness about it. I was interested to see both "Paris" and "New York New York" casinos, but having been to both cities recently and seen the real thing, I felt a bit of disappointment, or perhaps just slightly cheated. I don't know really, but ultimately I think I felt slightly underwhelmed by the whole experience. I am glad to have seen and experienced the place though, and definitely think it would be a completely different experience with a group of friends. Maybe one day... I couldn't resist The Sopranos slot machine when I spotted it, and they bring you free beer while you are playing. Brilliant! 
I have sort of become intrigued and slightly horrified by the US gun laws, but also have developed a sort of fatal attraction to the subtle lure of these amazing weapons! So when I came across an advert suggesting that a visit to a Vegas downtown store would enable the firing of a variety of fully automatic machineguns, I couldn't resist. Oh dear! So this afternoon I met up with Myles and Simon, and we went along to the appropriately named Gun Store, where I picked a package of three weapons to fire. "Good choice," said the guy behind the counter, but I had the feeling he might have said that whatever weapons I had chosen - the prices were not cheap! My three guns were an AK47 with 25 rounds, a 12-guage shotgun with 5 rounds, and an HK MP5 machinegun with 50 rounds - "The Gun Store Choice Package"!! All were amazing to fire, but my favourite was the MP5. The instructor showed me the correct stance, which felt a bit weird at first, but meant that the gun did not rake upwards or to the right when firing longer bursts. He explained why, and it all made good sense. Afterwards we went to Fremont Street, which is the older part of Las Vegas, but has had a bit of a revamp. We had a bite to eat, and played some cheap slots while being plied with copious quantities of free drinks. The overhead TV system, touted as the largest in the world, across the whole ceiling of the precinct was incredible, and has to be seen to be believed.    More info at Fremont Street Experience. Only in Las Vegas!
Red Rock Canyon was quite busy, being so close and so accessible, but it was nice to be able to get out into natural surroundings so easily.    In the afternoon I met up with Misty again, as she had a day off work, and had offered to give me a guided tour around The Strip. At her house I finally got to see the painting she had done, inspired by my "ALife4Sale" project. She had emailed me way back in March or April, telling me about her idea for this painting, and later had sent me a photo of the finished work. You can read more about it in an earlier blog here. It was fantastic to see the painting in real life, and I felt pretty flattered that someone half a world away from where I lived had taken such inspiration from something I had done. It was very satisfying to actually meet Misty and see the picture.  So I had added Misty to the list of people I wanted to meet when I set off on my travels, and she is actually about the seventh person that I have met who I have come into contact with through putting my "life" up for sale. Being a bit of a gambler (she plays alot of tournament poker!), she insisted on being counted as lucky number 7. So she has actually become an integral part of three of my goals: 1). Seeing Las Vegas 2). Meeting ten new people from ALife4Sale 3). Entering a $1,000 poker competition We headed down to The Strip as soon as it started going dark, and the first place to visit was the Stratosphere, a tall tower offering great views of The Strip, and with a couple of pretty wild fairground-type rides on top of the tower. We bought tickets and went on X-Scream, a sort of see-saw which tips you right over the edge of the tower. It was pretty intense. After dinner at the restaurant where Misty works we headed out to see more casinos, including a circus show at Circus Circus, the pirate show at Treasure Island, the pyramid-shaped Luxor, and the best of all, the water fountains at Bellagio.    Misty gave me a few pointers on poker etiquette, and a few suggestions on how best to prepare for a bigger tournament, and I reckon she would make a great coach for that goal, which I may aim to achieve sometime next year. Hopefully we might be able to play a bit online over the coming months! Las Vegas is certainly a different, and much more enjoyable place to look around with someone else, rather than on your own, and I had a much better impression of it on my last night out there than I did on my first! Viva Las Vegas! Huge thanks to Simon and Myles, and to Misty too, for being such great hosts, and helping me achieve my goal of gambling in Las Vegas.
  
Less than an hour later we were in his car and travelling south through LA, heading towards San Diego. I had managed to track down an old friend, Tim, from college days back in the UK, and was going to catch up with him for the first time in 20 years! Evan dropped me off and disappeared to meet his friends, and I knocked on Tim's door. As I walked in we both laughed and both exclaimed, "You look exactly the same, mate!" I reckon we were maybe both being a bit kind to each other! It was great catching up on all we had done in the 20 years gap, and we drank beer late into the night, swapping stories and laughing about some of the stupid stuff we used to do together. Our initial meeting all those years ago had been because of our mutual interest in motorbikes, and I was pleased to find that Tim still had a bike out in his shed, a fantastic looking Ducati Monster. "You can take it out tomorrow if you like." I like! I have never ridden a Ducati before. The next day I got a tour of some of San Diego's downtown spots - it is a very scenic place, and once again the weather was beautiful. The ship in the middle picture was used in the movie Master And Commander    After lunch, and a quick pep-talk from Tim about his pride-and-joy I was off down the freeway and then back up along the beautiful beachfront. The sun was out, the surf was rolling in, the bike was fast and smooth. Absolutely fantastic - things couldn't get much better than this - I had a big grin on my face, I am sure! Later that evening Tim sparked up the BBQ, and we drank more beer and told more old war stories to his wife, Laurie.    Wonderful to see you again Tim, see you again in another 20 years! Thanks to Tim, Laurie and their two lovely daughters.
In Australia there isn't any such facility at all, the nearest one being in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. However, there are plenty of them here in the States, and a small detour on the way back up to LA from San Diego took us to Perris Skydive. My friend Evan, who did alot of the internet publicity for my "ALife4Sale" website was keen to come along, but when he found out that he could do a real tandem skydive there instead, he lost all interest in the wind tunnel, and we went our separate ways for an hour or so as we both went off to do our respective training. My problem though was that I had lost my cameraman!! I only have a few pictures of the tunnel itself, and of others in the tunnel before I got in, but none of myself in there at all!    It was a very interesting experience, and is very similar in feel to a skydive, but quite different visually. You have the same feeling of being supported by the air, the same pressure on arms, body and legs, but in a skydive there is so much space around you. Unless you are skydiving with other people it is very difficult to know whether you are falling down straight, or backsliding, or falling slow or fast. But in the tunnel there are walls and windows all around, and they provide a great reference point. I was pretty pleased with my performance, and managed to stay in the middle without too much difficulty, and very quickly managed a few turns, and a few moves vertically up and down the tunnel. Each person in the group has a minute then flies to the door and gets out, and the next person gets in. The time goes pretty quick, but you can fit quite alot in, and my second minute was really good fun, as I played with fall-rate and moved quickly up and down the tunnel. I only had two minutes, at a bargain price of $35, and could have happily done more. I can see how time in the tunnel would be a great skydive training aid, but it is great fun too! Anyway, as there is no video or pix of my time in the tunnel, here is Evan's first tandem jump. Be warned - he was pretty excited and pumped up after the jump, and there is a bit of a language warning!!! This next video shows some of the people in the tunnel just before it was my turn. The instructors are excellent. Hmmm, I wonder how I get a job there.... Big thanks to Evan for a great weekend, and for being there, at least in spirit, for goal 17!
I bought myself a coffee and sat at the beach thinking over the whole trip from the past month. I think before I started, in my mind the trip was about finding as much of the original road, and actually driving upon it. But on reflection, I think it became much more about the people I have met on my journey, and the experiences that has offered me along the way. I have met some wonderful people who have been incredibly kind and hospitable to someone who was initially to them just a random internet stranger. To everyone that I have met on the route, thank you so much, it has been a fantastic journey. I have also seen some incredible places on the way. A couple of places that particularly stand out are the Arch at St Louis, the Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore, and the Devil's Tower. So I ended up in somewhat murky weather at Santa Monica beach, and wandered along towards the pier, happily watching all the people cycling, skating, playing volleyball, or heading for the surf. I felt pretty happy to have arrived, and am pleased that it doesn't really feel like the end of anything, as my travels now continue up the west coast towards winter in Canada. I am thoroughly enjoying this whole adventure, and am not ready for it to end just yet!    Afterwards, I headed down to Venice Beach, which had a great hippy-type street market, selling all sorts of arty stuff, and beads and trinkets. After a drive down to El Segundo (I just liked the name!) I headed north up Route 1, the Pacific Coast Highway, through Malibu, and up through the mountains back to Evan's house. What a beautiful drive, as the sun had burnt through the gloomy mist by early afternoon.    I am now living in the RV on Evan's driveway, and one of his housemates, Wade, asked if I fancied going ten-pin bowling. We went to the local bowling lanes, and I topped off a great day in LA by bowling a 170, my personal record score!  Well if you ever plan to motor west
Evan has very kindly lent me his car for the week while he is away, and my first job this morning was to fix the cigarette lighter socket, which wasn't working. Without that I am unable to charge my GPS, and heading off into downtown LA without it would have been foolish. So it didn't take me long to have the whole centre console of Evan's car stripped out. It took a bit longer to get it all back together - don't worry Evan, it's all working well now! Once sorted, I was off, and got parked at the Kodak Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. The first thing I wanted to do was to see the Hollywood sign up on the hill, which is for me the iconic image of LA, and just around the corner, there it was, high up on the Hollywood Hills.    I took a wander along Hollywood Boulevard, down Vine Street, and then back westward on Sunset Boulevard. I was surprised to find that among the glamour and the glitz there are quite a few closed down businesses, and that parts of the area are pretty run-down. However, at the westward end of Sunset Boulevard, where it becomes Sunset Strip, it becomes pretty exclusive and expensive. In the evening I met up with Ari, who lives just off Sunset, and works as a voiceover artist, doing voices for movie trailers, adverts, and any other project requiring voice acting. Check out some of his demos in the links at the bottom of this section. He had contacted me through the website, and offered to buy me a pint - how could I refuse? We met in the Trocadero on Sunset, and after a couple of beers we headed to Sushi On Sunset to eat, which was absolutely fantastic. The Firecracker Chicken was the highlight of the menu. Huge thanks to Ari for a very entertaining evening, and for picking up the bill too, I reckon it would have cost about a week's worth of my travelling budget! Every now and then I keep realising what I am doing, and where I am, and this evening, sat eating dinner I had one of those moments. "I am sat in an incredible restaurant on Sunset Strip in LA, eating dinner with a Hollywood actor!!" What a amazing experience! Cheers, Ari.  Ari Ross website Ari Ross demos Ari Ross on IMDB
I have been in LA for a few days now, and am sort of finding my way around. My best friend Maggie (Magellan) is invaluable here, I would be lost without her. She knows her way around the whole US pretty well, and has got me to many destinations that I would have never found on my own. I am enjoying being settled in one place for a while, and with the RV parked up, and the use of Evan's car, it really does feel like going out somewhere, and then coming back home. And last night I had the chance to go out on a date/adventure! Let me explain... I have known Yvette online for quite a while now, since she first found out about me when "ALife4Sale" started, and contacted me via email. She has her own blog, all about being single again, and the perils and pitfalls of having to start dating again a bit later in life. She is also pretty goal driven, and for this year has set herself two challenges. Her first decision was to have at least one adventure a month for the whole year, and she also committed to dating at least one new guy per month too. Way back in July, when I first wrote about wanting to do 100 goals in 100 weeks, she wrote on her blog that perhaps one of her goals would be to meet me somewhere down the line on my travels, and do something adventurous. Her ultimate goal is to write a book about her dating adventures, twelve chapters, twelve guys, and alot of her thoughts on the modern dating game. I reckon it will be a great book, she writes very well. Well, it turned out that we would both be in LA at the same time, and after a bit of planning, she decided that she could kill two birds with one stone, by making her adventure of the month happen at the same time as going on a date with Mr. November - me!! We met in the afternoon, and took a drive along Mulholland Drive, which ends at a great outlook overlooking the Hollywood Bowl, and the whole city. In the evening, after a quick dinner we went to Warner Bros Studios, where Yvette had got us free tickets at the filming of a sit-com. Unfortunately alot of free tickets had been given out, and we had arrived too late to get in, and with many others we, were turned away. Oh well, we decided, we would drive down to the beach at Santa Monica, and perhaps find a place to have a drink. When we got there, the pier was lit up brightly, and the big wheel stood out from along way away. "That's the adventure part of the evening then," said Yvette. "We'll go on the big wheel!" When we got there the pier was cold and damp and deserted, and the big wheel flashed it's glamourous invite in complete silence! Oh dear, the adventure/date wasn't turning out too successfully! We wandered down to the beach, and Yvette said that she still had to do something adventurous and out of the ordinary to achieve her adventure of the month. It had to be something that took her out of her comfort zone, she insisted. "I know, let's go skinny dipping!" she said. I was very skeptical, it was pretty cold on the beach, the waves were crashing in a bit, and we had no towels! But adventure was required, and after a bit of dithering around we were both in. It was freezing! We were both out again pretty quickly too! But adventure had been achieved, and we were both pretty proud of ourselves as we sat in a warm bar later to celebrate. It was a unusual and fun date, and Yvette was great fun to hang out with (pun intended!), but I am just slightly concerned about how I will fare in my write up as Mr. November in Yvette's book, as that water really was quite cold!    Thanks for a fun afternoon and evening Yvette, I am (sort of!) looking forward to the book coming out! Yvette's blogs:- Single Again and Meet The Man In The Street
Since very early on in the "ALife4Sale" project, I have had occasional contacts from movie and TV producers interested in doing something with the story. I really did not know how to handle all of these enquiries, but had some amazing and surreal discussions on the phone. One of the most memorable was with a Hollywood producer who suggested that her team of people saw the story "as a Tom Hanks-type rom-com." What an unreal comment to hear about something that you are doing. My quick response was a tongue in cheek reply, as I tried not to laugh at what I was saying. "Oh no, I rather saw George Clooney playing me!" Without missing a beat, or picking up on any of the humour in my voice, the agent simply said, "Yes, we could possibly make that happen."!!! Wow, I thought, I'm a bit out of my area of experience here! Fortunately Evan, who was helping with some of the "ALife4Sale" publicity, put me in touch with an LA movie agent, and I could palm off all such enquiries to Brandon and let him deal with them. Since then things seem to have moved pretty slowly, but there has been alot of discussion between Brandon and Walt Disney, who seemed most interested in the project. There was some negotiation, and eventually Brandon presented an offer which he thought was the best we would get. Disney wanted to buy an 18 month option on the story, with a view to buying the story within that period if they decide to go ahead and make a movie. And of course they pay for this option. I was amazed about this, and of course happy to accept. I mean, how often does a normal bloke like me have Disney knocking at their door wanting to make a movie about them? Well, since then it all seems to have taken a huge amount of time to sort out paperwork and signatures, but I spoke to Brandon a couple of days ago, and he suggested we meet in Beverly Hills for lunch. "Of course," I said, as if it was the type of thing I did all the time. "Oh, and I'll be able to give you your cheque too," he added. So I programmed the GPS and set off through the horrendous LA traffic to Beverley Hills and parked at Barneys on Wilshire Boulevard, which has a very popular restaurant on the top floor. Also having lunch there at the same time was movie director Ridley Scott, and as we walked out the store afterwards I held the door open for Monty Phthon's Eric Idle. What a surreal experience. Lunch was fantastic, and I breathed a quiet sigh of relief when Brandon offered to pick up the bill. Although he then presented me with my cheque from Disney, and I felt my financial situation ease slightly! After the lunch meeting I wandered up and down Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive, where all the incredibly expensive shops are, then went to collect the car. To get out of the area I found myself at the junction of these two famous roads, in front of the hotel where Pretty Woman and many other movies were filmed, waiting in the middle of the junction to turn left onto Rodeo Drive, behind a Mercedes with a Beverly Hills licence plate, a cheque in my pocket from Walt Disney, rock music blaring from my stereo, arm out the window in the sun, having just had lunch with my very own movie agent!! I was amazed and stunned, but immensely happy - what an incredible experience! I took a photograph through the car windscreen. Of course it doesn't fully capture the moment, but I know I will never forget the feeling!! Once again, I think about what an incredible journey this is turning out to be. A year ago I was a truck driver in a mine, yesterday I was driving around Beverly Hills with a movie studio cheque in my pocket.    Later in the afternoon I had to go to Walmart to buy a new pair of jeans. The pair I have are now falling apart a bit, the right rear pocket now has a huge hole in it, and under the left rear pocket a hole is starting too. I had to laugh that I had been to probably the most expensive restaurant I have ever been to in the scruffiest pair of backpacker-jeans I have ever had!
One of my goals is to juggle with fire clubs. My dad taught me how to juggle three balls when I was young, and later he bought me a set of juggling clubs. I am not very good with them, as I don't really practice enough, but have always fancied trying to juggle with fire clubs. I added this goal to my list, and recently, as I approached Los Angeles, I was contacted by Mark Bakalor, who lives and works with a juggler called Vova Galchenko. Vova, Mark told me, is one of the world's greatest jugglers. He was recently featured in The New York Times and has been on The Oprah Winfrey Show, BBC, ESPN, Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Today Show and US news program Nightline. Mark invited me to their family home for Thanksgiving Day, and gave me the address to put into my GPS. Driving out there was an experience in itself, as "Maggie" directed me out into the beautiful Santa Monica mountains above Malibu. As I approached, and the GPS said I was there, I looked up at the hillside at the most amazing house perched high above. That can't be it, I thought - it was! The place was stunning.    I met Mark and Vova, and the whole family covering four generations, all gathered for Thanksgiving dinner. I learned a bit of Vova's background story. He had left Russia at the age of fifteen alng with his sister Olga who was twelve at the time, and had come to America in search of a better life. They were already an incredible juggling partnership, and had performed many shows, but it was when Mark and Vova entered a competition to make a video for a Fat Boy Slim song that things really started happening. The video was a huge hit on YouTube, and led to all sorts of TV appearances over the past couple of years. Have a look at the video: And so here I was, in the house where the video was made, throwing clubs around with the guy that Time Magazine called "one of the greatest jugglers in history", and The Today Show called "the best in the entire world"! After a wonderful Thanksgiving meal, we juggled some more, and the fire clubs came out, and the frustrating practice started. Vova, of course, made it look very easy, but in the dark, it is very hard not to concentrate on the flame, and seeing the handle of the club as it comes over the top is much harder. However, with alot of practice, and a bit of lighting from inside the house, I started to make a couple of catches. The general opinion of all the jugglers there, which included Vova, Mark, and his dad Barry, was that to be considered a successful "juggle" you had to perform an amount of catches which is double the number of items you are juggling, and an added bonus would be to catch the final item to "look cool". I tried many times, and found it alot trickier than I had thought it would be. However, thanks to the patience of all there, I finally managed to do six or seven catches in a row. I kept at it, and eventually managed a run of six with a final catch at the end. As I caught the final club, I heard Vova saying, "Oh no, don't catch it!" It was the only time he hadn't been filming me, so I had to do it again! Although I am happy that the goal has been achieved, there is still room for improvement (alot of room for improvement when you see what Vova can do!) before I will be satisfied, so I do intend to keep practicing, and hope to do some more fire-club juggling in the future. Huge thanks to Mark, Vova, Olga, Barry, Ari, and everyone else at the Bakalor home, what a truly outstanding, memorable day!  More information on Vova and Olga at the following links. The videos are well worth watching:- Vova's website Vova and Olga - Wikipedia New York Times article Vova Galchenko on ABC's Nightline:- Or for more incredible juggling, simply go to YouTube and type Vova into the search box to find any amount of amazing stuff.
My days here in LA have been pretty hectic, and I had not got around to confirming with Mark, when I wrote my blog about going out for dinner with Ari Ross, the voice-over guy. Well, Mark saw that blog and recognised Ari, as Mark had hired him to do some voiceover work on one of Vova's projects. What a small world! Mark contacted Ari to try to get in touch with me, and eventually I managed to get around to confirming that I would delighted to accept Mark's invitation. Mark also invited Ari, and a couple of days after I first met him, I met Ari again. It was wonderful to see Ari's reaction to the completed work that he had voiceovered for, as he had not seen the finished product. Ari also filmed some video of the evening of fire clubs juggling, and has edited a great short piece, which really captures for me the relaxed, easy-going, fun evening we all shared, as I fumbled my way through goal number 20! The fire in the video seems to make it very pixelated on YouTube. If interested there is a much better quality version of the video file that can be downloaded from Ari here: http://www.isdnvoices.com/IANUSHER.htm Thanks again to all who were there, and made it such a memorable evening!
This is his website:- ArtistLifeForSale.com He lives in a small park home just above the beach near Santa Monica, and enjoys fantastic views over the coastline facing westward. He makes his living from his art, something that he didn't begin until the age of 47, after working in the corporate world for 23 years. You can read more about John's reasons for selling his lifestyle at his website, but basically he wants to be nearer his daughters and their families, and will continue his artwork in his new locations. John is a great example of someone who is living his life exactly how he wants, and is quite an inspirational person to meet. We sat admiring his view, drinking tea, eating apple pie and talking about a wide range of subjects for several hours. We laughed alot, and I found him to be very easy company.    John does alot of large portraits, and has done many for well known musicians. He has very kindly offered to do a portrait of me, and took several photos to work from. I am looking forward to seeing the finished result. More on John and his work here:- CBS News Interview Street Credible Art John's Blog - What art did he make today? John hasn't yet sold his life, probably due to the current ecomomic conditions, so if you are interested, get in touch with him and make an offer. Good luck John. On Saturday, following a recommendation from Misty, my other artist friend in Las Vegas, I programmed into my GPS the address for the Peace Labyrinth. However, when I got there there was no peace to be had. It was closed for the day! There was no peace to be found at the Griffith Observatory either, which is where I decided to go instead. The place was packed, and finding a parking space was a bit of a drama. I was a beautiful sunny day, and it appeared that many others had had the same idea as me, and were out to see the magnificent views from the observatory high in the hills above LA. Eventually I got parked, and was a bit disappointed that the city itself was somewhat shrouded in a veil of smog. The observatory was fascinating, and I wandered around happily for a couple of hours, and bought a ticket for the planetarium show "Centred in the Universe". It is shown on a huge half-dome ceiling, and was absolutely stunning, leaving me quite awed and speechless. It gave me quite a disturbing sense of tiny insignificance as it shows the mind-numbing vastness of what is out there. Our sun is just one of billions in the Milky Way galaxy, and our galaxy is just one of billions of other galaxies that are out there. The presentation shows this very well, and I highly recommend it to anyone. It certainly makes you think. When I came out of the planetarium, the sun had set, and the lights of LA were spread out below. There was a very thin sliver of moon just above the layer of smog, which was lit up by the city lights, and high above that two planets shone brightly. Unfrtunately my picture comes nowhere near to capturing how beautiful it looked.    I had planned to visit The Getty Museum over the weekend, but after seeing how busy the Griffith Observatory was on Saturday, I decided to wait until Monday to go. A bit of a mistake really, as when I got there I found out that it is closed every Monday! However, they kindly gave me a free ticket to The Getty Villa, down on the coast near the end of Sunset Boulevard. It was another perfect sunny California day, but half a mile from the seafront I drove into a thick sea mist, and the temperature dropped dramatically. The villa is quite spectacular, and was originally modelled on the Villa dei Papiri, discovered at Hurculaneum which was buried in the eruption of Vesuvius at the same time as Pompeii. Unfortunately J. Paul Getty never got to see the completed villa, dying in 1976 before having the opportunity to do so. It is filled with interesting Roman and Greek artifacts. As the afternoon wore on it became gloomier outside, and many people left, leaving me to wander alone around the silent gardens. Very atmospheric - you could easily imagine being in a villa in Italy around 2,000 years ago.    So today, after picking up Evan at the airport last night, I finally got to see the Getty Museum, successfully this time. Unfortunately, it wasn't as clear as the previous day, so the views were not too good. It is a very spectacular building set high up on the hillside above LA, and I was more fascinated by the architecture and design of the place than much of the art contained within.       We only had limited time, so galloped pretty quickly around the gardens and many of the exhibits. It would be easy to spend alot longer looking around here. It would be nice to visit again on a clearer day too to admire the views which were hidden from us. But that will have to wait for a future visit, as it is now time to move on from LA and head northwards towards San Fransisco. The RV is repacked, and I am ready to hit the road. I have really enjoyed my time in LA, it is a great place, and I feel I have only just scratched the surface. I will definitely be back.
It had everything required to entertain guests in fine style, including a couple of pools, tennis courts, guest villas, an airstrip, and much more. And many famous guests visited in their day, including Charlie Chaplin, Errol Flynn, Winston Churchil and a host of others.    That evening I parked up for the night at the side of the highway overlooking the ocean, lit by the moon. It was a very quiet and peaceful, with only a very occasional car passing by. The next day I drove into Monterey, which is a beautiful place, and after a quick look around, headed on into San Francisco. I found the local Walmart and left the RV to go into the city to meet Susan, another website contact, who had offered to show me around the city. We had a couple of drinks and a bite to eat, and arranged a day of city sightseeing for the next day before I headed for home. I met Susan again the next morning, and we bought our tickets for the touristy cable cars. They are pretty well known as a San Francisco attraction, and I am sure you will have seen them featured in many movies, as they climb up and down the steep streets. They are pretty impressive. We got off at Lombard Street, the famous steeply twisting road, and walked down and then onwards to Fisherman's Wharf. We sat at Pier 39 and watched the sea lions there on the floating pontoons. It was beautifully warm and sunny. From there we walked to Coit Tower, with spectacular views over the whole city, and after a quick look around Chinatown Susan had to leave, and I headed for Pier 33, where the night tour of Alcatraz Island would depart from.    The cruise went around the west side of the island, and then on the island itself a great audio-guide tour around the buildings provided a fascinating insight into the history of the imposing fortress prison there. The view of the Golden Gate Bridge just after sunset, seen from the prison guards' area, was awesome, a stark contrast to the grim interior of the prison itself.    A busy day with alot of touristy sightseeing fitted in, and more to come tomorrow Hearst Castle website Hearst Castle - Wikipedia Coit Tower - Wikipedia Alcatraz
Once again, I was keen for others to come and join in, and Cindy and her husband Steven and their chatty young son Trevor came to pick me up at Walmart first thing in the morning, and we headed to the city, and parked in the carpark at the southern end of the bridge. We were a little later than planned, but of the others who may have been coming along, nobody had arrived. It was sunny and reasonably clear weather, but there was quite a cold wind, so we all wrapped up well, and set off across the bridge. There are some great views of the city and the bay, and I could not help making comparisons with Sydney and it's Harbour Bridge. Both cities are beautiful places. There was alot going on there. Helicopters and airships flying over and around the bridge, kiteboarders, windsurfers, sailing boats and canoeists passing under, and a few walkers and cyclists crossing the bridge.    Afterwards we were all happy to get back in the car and warm up, and lunch in the Buena Vista waterfront cafe was very welcome. Thanks to Cindy, Stephen and Travor for coming along and making it a great day. 
The drive across the bridge went well, and the view from Marin Head was spectacular, but as I drove into Sausalito, and the police car lights flashed on, I realised the day might not go as well as previous adventures had. After a bit of swift talking, and the use of my best English accent, combined with an Australian driving licence, and I was let off with a caution (for failing to give way to a pedestrian on a cross-walk). I think the paperwork may have been a bit too complicated!    When I finally found the ferry terminal, I discovered that the first ferry didn't leave for another hour, despite the lengthy delay with the police, so I had to turn around and drive back across the bridge, through the city, to the appropriate pier. There I met Isabel, and other members of BAADS, the Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors. A fter a couple of coffees we headed for the boat, a 36 foot Islander called "Orion", and headed out into the bay. The view of the city and the Bay Bridge was fantastic, and we headed upwind towards Alcatraz. The winds were light, so it was a pretty relaxed afternoon, and I got a turn at the helm for a while. What an absolute privelidge to go out with these wonderful people, who despite the difficulties they face, still enjoy an incredibly active lifestyle. Wandering around the deck among the other sailors, lifejacket on like everyone else was Genoa, a labrador guide dog belonging to Ed, the fleet commodore, who is completely blind! The rest of our crew consisted of skipper Ray, Tom and Jean, Isabel and myself. After we returned to the dock, we enjoyed a couple of drinks at the yacht club bar, followed by a lovely meal at a local restaurant. A fantastic day!    On my return to the carpark where I had left the RV, properly parked in a slot, parking fee paid for the whole day, carpark 10% occupied at the most, I had a parking ticket! Apparently RVs are not allowed to use the carpark. Had I inconvenienced anyone else? Probably not, there were at least 200 other empty spaces! Welcome, visitor, to San Francisco, the least RV friendly city in the US. Time to head northwards. Thanks to all in San Francisco, Susan, Cindy and family, Isabel and all at BAADS, and of course the wonderful San Franciso parking militants!
I detoured through the Avenue of the Giants, and was awed by the size of the huge redwood trees, but couldn't linger long, as I had quite a few more miles to go yet. Another quick stop at the roadside for a photo of the sunset over the ocean, and onwards up the twisting coast road in the gathering darkness.    Eventually I arrived at the Lucky 7 casino at the Oregon border, where I had arranged to meet Debbie, and her partner Jeff. Debbie and I have been in contact for a while on the internet, and she had suggested that I should call in at the beautiful Gold Beach area of the Oregon coast, where I could possibly achieve a couple of goals. Prior to my arrival Debbie had been very busy, and had arranged a busy schedule for me. After a fantastic beer and pizza dinner we went to look at the local park Christmas lights, which was pretty spectacular for a small town, and was then taken to my accomodation for the evening, Ghost Cottage. There I met Kelli and Riley, the owners of the haunted cottage, and we all took a walk through the dark woodlands outside. For my first evening there I was not alone in the house, and I went to bed downstairs in the comfortable guestroom. I was pretty shattered after my long drive, and slept soundly that night. I woke a couple of times in the night, and listned for any noises, but soon fell asleep again. I woke feeling very refreshed, but slightly disappointed that I had not experienced anything. At breakfast Kelli assured me that I would meet the other "residents" that night when I was alone in the house! The next activity that Debbie had arranged for me was a jet boat ride up Rogue River. Ryan, a friend of a friend of Debbie's, picked me up from Ghost Cottage at nine, and after fuelling the boat up we drove upriver to Lobster Creek where we launched the boat. We wrapped up well, put in earplugs, and once the engine warmed up we headed upstream. The boat was very fast, and skipped across the surface of the water. As we approached the first small rapids I thought Ryan might have to slow down, but he just gunned it through and we continued onwards at high speed. The scenery was absolutely beautiful, and twelve miles further upriver we entered an area listed by the government as "wild and scenic". What better way to enjoy wild and scenic beauty than powering through it in a highly tuned racing machine? We raced onwards, the view becoming ever more spectacular as the river narrowed, and twisted and turned, and we blasted up through more rapids. It was very cold, with the temperature just above freezing, and with the added windchill factor of travelling at about 60 miles per hour, I think my head was as cold as it has ever been. But I had a huge smile on my face the whole time.    About 40 miles upriver we stopped at Paradise Lodge, an isolated resort which can only be reached by either boat or helicopter. It was a lovely place, closed now for winter, but offering what I imagine would be wonderful summer accomodation. We chatted to the owner, warmed ourselves inside briefly, then headed back downriver. Halfway down Ryan pulled over and said, "Your turn," and we swapped seats. What a machine! It was fantastically responsive as I pressed the throttle and we powered through the calm flat sections and bounced through the rapids. What a thrill! It all came to a sudden halt though three miles from the end of the journey, when we ran out of petrol, and had to wait for the local fishing guide to tow us to shore! All part of the adventure. It was nice sat in the sun warming up again, enjoying the peace of this beautiful area. What a brilliant experience all round. As soon as we arrived in town Debbie came to meet us, and whisked me away for the next activity, which was actually on my list of goals. I have tried horse riding a few times, and am happy to admit being a bit nervous of them. They are just so big and powerful, and it seems to me that if they get the idea into their head that they want to do something, what can you do to stop them? I had a bit of a nerve-wracking experience on a horse on holiday in Tunisia once, when it bolted, scared by a motorbike, but managed to live to tell the tale! My goal then has been to have the confidence and ability to gallop a horse along a deserted beach at sunset. Ideally this would be a romantic ride with a perfect companion, but this part of the picture I had mentally painted for myself was not a necessity for the completion of the goal. My companion on the ride was to be Paul, and I romance would not be a part of the ride! So we met up with Paul, who seemed very blase about galloping on a horse. "Just tell it to go, and you'll be fine," he said. I wasn't convinced, but he wasn't advocating weeks of lessons, as most places I have mentioned this goal to seem to do. It was almost sunset, and there was a beautiful beach just across the road. This was my chance! We walked the horses down to the beach, and got there just before sunset. It was beautiful. My horse, a girl called Booty seemed very steady and relaxed, and when Paul spurred his horse on Booty followed suit with a word of encouragement, and before I knew it we were galloping! I'm sure I didn't look very stylish, but I felt pretty comfortable, and after a quick few words of advice from Paul we were off again. We tried swapping horses, and I climbed aboard Bo, a Formula 1 of the horse world who was now warmed up and ready to go! And go he tried to do, until the saddle slipped a bit, and I found myself on my backside on the beach! I wasn't hurt, but there will be a bruise! I got back on Bo briefly, but I think he knew I was nervous now, and I soon elected to swap back. We galloped again, and headed back for the stables as the sky turned a brilliant orange behind us. A perfect way to achieve another goal, with thanks to Debbie for arranging it, and Paul for making it happen so smoothly.       Afterwards we all went to a local restaurant for dinner, meeting Jeff, Kelli and Riley there too, and the freshly-caught local crab was delicious. Later we headed back to Ghost Cottage, and Kelli and the others left me on my own there for the night. To be continued...
Bill was a previous owner of the house, born on 6th December 1945, and died at the age of 32 in late 1978. As reported in the local newspaper, The Curry County Reporter, he died of head injuries caused by a car accident when on a hunting trip with friends. However, all is not as it seems, and Bill now haunts his old home, with a tale to tell, somewhat similar to the movie Ghost. Apparently in town, what really happened to Bill is fairly common knowledge. Kelli and Riley moved here 2006, and Bill told Kelli the true story of that night. A group of friends on a hunting trip, having had more than a few drinks that night, decided to throw axes at a tree. Unfortunately Bill was hit by a thrown axe and died. His death was covered up by his friends, who put his body a car, rolled it down a hill, and reported the accident. Bill has told Kelli all of this, and she has had many things she has discovered confirmed by people at the hospital who examined his body, and with many of Bill's friends in town. All sorts of little details that she could not know any other way. Bill is not upset about the coverup, but that his his favourite pickup truck was sold, not to one of his friends as he would have liked, but bought a complete stranger! This pickup truck buyer eventually married Bill's widow, who had received a large life insurance payment, bought a plane and set up a local business with the proceeds. He then proceeded to rip off many of the local people, alot of them Bill's old friends. The pickup truck buyer apparently died on the anniversary of Bill's death, by flying his plane into the side of a mountain. Bill is currently writing a book, dictated to Kelli, who acts as his secretary. So last night I was left to my own devices, and from about 9.30pm onwards I sat in the house alone, writing some stuff on the computer. I didn't put any music on, just worked in silence, the only noise being my slow pecking on the keyboard. A couple of times I had to go outside to get something from the RV, and it was cold, quiet and dark out there. By midnight I was ready for bed, but before turning in for the night I wandered around the house a bit. As Kelli had suggested, I talked to the ghosts, and asked Bill if he could make some noise if he was there. I also, as suggested, played guitar a bit, and invited the lady ghost who lives in the back bedroom to pluck a string on the harp in there. Finally I turned the house lights off, and took some photos in the dark, and before bed I went to the bathroom with the door shut, lit just by candle light, another of Kelli's suggestions. Nothing! Nothing at all! I was disappointed. Although I had felt some trepidation about the evening alone, I was keen to experience something unusual or unexplainable. The only thing that did make me jump a bit was a scrabbling noise at the patio window as I had worked on the computer. Just a possum, my logical mind says. I wonder if people are like radio receivers, and I am just tuned to the wrong channel? I guess for now I remain an open minded skeptic!    Thanks again to Debbie for her marvellous last minute organisation on such short notice from me, and to Kelli and Riley for being kind enough to leave me alone in their lovely house.
    We followed the beaches and ocean lookouts back to the north, and ended up in town to see the sun set behind the bridge that spans the Rogue River. After sunset we went for something to eat, and headed back to Ghost Cottage for my last night there. Kelli had arranged for a group of psychic investigators to come around for the evening to do some studies and take some readings at the house.    When we arrived, the investigators had set up all sorts of meters and cameras, and were listening with a variety of microphones and recorders. As the "investigation" got underway, it became pretty obvious that there was little in the way of objectivity in the way things were being conducted, as all present seemed to be complete believers in all things ghostly. And yet once again there was no evidence of anything going on, apart from the occasional ticking or creaking, the usual noises of a house cooling and settling for the night. Each tiny noise was attributed to Bill, and as proceedings wore on, I became more and more amused, and frustrated. Eventually Debbie had to leave, and soon afterwards, worn out after a long few days, I made my excuses and headed off to bed. I woke up occasionally during the night, roused not by any ghostly noises, but by the exclamations of investigators asking, "Did you hear that?" I soon fell asleep again. I remain skeptical on the whole matter, perhaps even more so after three nights that for me were completely uneventful. I will however, keep an open mind, as some of the stuff Kelli told us is quite interesting, and some of the facts she knows are quite compelling. Ultimately, I was disappointed not to experience anything at all, but still feel happy that the goal has been thoroughly completed, much more so than I could have ever hoped thanks to Kelli and Riley's kindness, and to Debbie for her wonderful hosting, overall organisation, and enthusiasm for the area. 
The winner, David, lives with his family in Portland in Oregon, and had invited me to visit. Heading north from Gold Beach would take me directly through the city. Unfortunately, after an early start, the alternator on the RV, after squeeking continuously for the last two thousand miles went ominously quiet, and the battery indicator on the dashboard showed that there may be trouble ahead! I found an auto repair shop at the next town, and without daring to turn the engine off, had them put a meter on the alternator, and discovered that it was still putting out a little charge, probably enough to keep the vehicle running, but not enough to recharge the battery. I decided to push on and try to resolve the issue in Portland. I made good time for the rest of the trip, and arrived at David's house without further incident. I left the RV running, explaining my predicament, and we looked in the local Yellow Pages for a repair shop. I took it to Keith's Autos, and after a few sharp intakes of breath, and alot of head shaking, a meter pronounced the alternator dead. Keith was left with the RV, and a request for a speedy repair, and David and I returned home for dinner. I met his wife Lisa, and their two fantastic kids Ian and Amy, and for the rest of the evening we played ten-pin bowling on the Nintendo Wii. I was proud to win the first two games against the kids - they were both very good - but I became complacent, and was soundly thrashed in the last game. After the kids went to bed, Marc Acito, another friend of David's turned up at the house. David had thought we would be interested in meeting, as Marc is about my age, and is in the final stages of his very own mid-life-crisis project, which is quite similar to my own. He is almost at the end of doing a new thing every day for a year. You can see his blog here: http://marcacito.blogspot.com/ David had very kindly taken the next day off work to entertain me, and had booked a couple of exciting things for us to do. In the morning we went for breakfast with Lisa, and then to a poi-twirling lesson. Poi are pair of balls on the end of strings which are held one in each hand, and twirled in some amazing patterns. Well, that is the theory, but David and I struggled to master the dexterity needed to handle them effectively. With some patient teaching though we did improve, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. After a quick bite to eat we headed down to the local radio station to meet up with Marc again, where he features on one of the local shows on a regular basis. I sat down in the studio, put some headphones on, and chatted away with Marc and the show hosts. It was great fun, and reminded me of the cray days when "ALife4Sale" meant I was interviewed regularly by radio stations, as I enjoyed my 15 minutes of fame!    We dashed out of the radio station as soon as we were finished, and Marc, David and I headed into town for the "Portland Underground" tour. Portland has a fascinating history, and at one time had an extensive system of tunnels underneath the city, connecting most of the downtown buildings with the waterfront. The tunnels have seen many uses, including opium dens, illegal drinking establishments during prohibition, prostitution, and even white-slave trading. But their most infamous use was for an even more ominous trade. It was from these tunnels that many men were "Shang-Haied", simply disappearing from the world above, finding themselves as unwilling crew members aboard ships bound for the Orient and beyond. The tour was fascinating, and I was astounded to find that the illegal practices, which started around 1850 in Portland, had continued until as recently as 1941. I would highly recommend the tour for anyone visiting Portland. I was very proud to be mentioned by Marc in his blog for day 351 of his year, for which seeing the Portland Underground was his new thing for the day. Read about it here. Not long to go now Marc, keep up the good work! Thanks to David and family for being such fantastic Portland hosts, and going well beyond what is ever expected from a cometition winner!
We stopped off in Tacoma pretty much as a random choice, and both wished we had set off earlier, as we saw not only the biggest totem pole in the world, but also discovered that there was a glass-blowing museum, featuring alot of work from Dale Chihuly, whose work I had admired in both Oklahoma and Las Vegas. Unfortunately, we were too late and it had closed for the evening.     I also found out later that I could have gone to see the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, where the original had once stood, and had been so famously and spectacularly destroyed in steady winds in 1940. See the amazing video clip below: Eventually we made it to Heather's friends' house in the northern suburbs of Seattle just as it started to snow. During the evening I met three generations of the family, grandma Gail, parents Jeff and Jenny, and three daughters, Warner, Whitney and Willow, aged 9, 7 and 4, and who were much more conveniently referred to as W1, W2 and W3. We played games, and my moment of glory was when W2 and I won the domino trains game. Gail and I were thoroughly humiliated though at a memory game by the sharp kids' team. I also met the family dog Scout, who I could see was quite old, and very friendly. I asked him to sit, which he did slowly, and I felt very guilty when I was told that he has arthritic hips, and nobody makes him sit anymore as it is so painful for him. Ooops! Sorry Scout.    The next day Heather showed me around Seattle, and we admired the view of the beautiful Puget Sound and the mountains in the distance from the Space Needle high above the city. After a swift lunch of clam chowder, a local speciality, we went to look around Pike Place Market, famous for the fun fish merchants working there who throw fish around, and get the crowd involved as often as they can. I have read a book about this place, and was fascinated to see it in real life.    We had to leave before it got too late, and I dropped Heather off at the airport to fly back to Chicago, and started to head the RV towards the local Walmart carpark. It was getting pretty cold and icy, and I parked up as soon as I could before it got any worse. Dear me, it is all a very sudden change from the beautiful summery weather I was enjoying in LA just a week and a half ago. And it's only going to get colder as I head further north, I suspect. 
Time Top Ten Oddball News Stories: Your Money For My Life  The whole top ten oddball news stories reads as follows: 1. The Pregnant Man 2. Night of the Corpse Skull Bong 3. Strange Things Afoot in Vancouver 4. Virgin Shark Mother 5. She Ain't Heavy, She's My Partially Absorbed Embryonic Twin 6. Second Life Divorce 7. Fish Pedicures 8. Breast Milk Ice Cream 9. Bigfoot Lives! No, Really! 10. Your Money For My Life
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Prologue Weeks 1 to 10 Weeks 11 to 20 Weeks 21 to 30 Weeks 31 to 40 Weeks 41 to 50 Weeks 51 to 60 Weeks 61 to 70 Weeks 71 to 80 Weeks 81 to 90 Weeks 91 to 100 Epilogue
Prologue
(28)
Weeks 1 to 10
(52)
Weeks 11 to 20
(47)
13 Oct 2008 The last supper.
15 Oct 2008 Goal 11 achieved! Niagara Falls.
16 Oct 2008 Ontario frustrations!
20 Oct 2008 Welcome to the windy city.
22 Oct 2008 Chicago on a nicer day.
23 Oct 2008 RV sorted out.
26 Oct 2008 Is there a doctor in the pub?
27 Oct 2008 Route 66 plans
28 Oct 2008 "Well it winds from Chicago to LA..."
29 Oct 2008 Goal number 12 has been inked into place!
30 Oct 2008 "Well it goes from St. Louis..."
31 Oct 2008 "down through Missouri..."
01 Nov 2008 Goal 13 comes swooping in.
04 Nov 2008 Election Day in Oklahoma.
06 Nov 2008 "Oklahoma City looks oh so pretty..."
07 Nov 2008 Guntastic!
08 Nov 2008 "You'll see Amarillo..."
09 Nov 2008 Albuquerque.
10 Nov 2008 "and Gallup, New Mexico..."
10 Nov 2008 "Flagstaff, Arizona. Don't forget Winona..."
11 Nov 2008 What a beautiful morning!
12 Nov 2008 Goal 14 completed - Grand Canyon.
13 Nov 2008 Pretty dam spectacular!
15 Nov 2008 TV script writers running out of ideas?
17 Nov 2008 Goal 15 sculpted to perfection - Mount Rushmore.
18 Nov 2008 Goal 16 achieved - Las Vegas.
18 Nov 2008 Only in Las Vegas!
20 Nov 2008 Viva Las Vegas!
20 Nov 2008 "Kingman, Barstow, San Bernadino."
22 Nov 2008 San Diego.
22 Nov 2008 Goal 17 blows into place - skydive wind tunnel.
23 Nov 2008 Goal 18 completed - "More than 2,000 miles all the way."
24 Nov 2008 Goal 19 achieved - The City of the Angels.
26 Nov 2008 Another goal achieved, but...
27 Nov 2008 What an experience!
28 Nov 2008 Happy Thanksgiving Day! Goal 20 achieved!
29 Nov 2008 Small town LA - life's little coincidences!
03 Dec 2008 Art and science in LA.
05 Dec 2008 San Francisco.
06 Dec 2008 Goal 21 completed - San Francisco.
08 Dec 2008 Sailing on the Frisco Bay.
09 Dec 2008 Goal 22 is tamed - horse riding at sunset.
10 Dec 2008 Ghostly Goal 23 completed.
11 Dec 2008 Gold Beach, Oregon.
13 Dec 2008 Portland.
15 Dec 2008 Seattle.
18 Dec 2008 Time Magazine year-end lists.
15 Oct 2008 Goal 11 achieved! Niagara Falls.
16 Oct 2008 Ontario frustrations!
20 Oct 2008 Welcome to the windy city.
22 Oct 2008 Chicago on a nicer day.
23 Oct 2008 RV sorted out.
26 Oct 2008 Is there a doctor in the pub?
27 Oct 2008 Route 66 plans
28 Oct 2008 "Well it winds from Chicago to LA..."
29 Oct 2008 Goal number 12 has been inked into place!
30 Oct 2008 "Well it goes from St. Louis..."
31 Oct 2008 "down through Missouri..."
01 Nov 2008 Goal 13 comes swooping in.
04 Nov 2008 Election Day in Oklahoma.
06 Nov 2008 "Oklahoma City looks oh so pretty..."
07 Nov 2008 Guntastic!
08 Nov 2008 "You'll see Amarillo..."
09 Nov 2008 Albuquerque.
10 Nov 2008 "and Gallup, New Mexico..."
10 Nov 2008 "Flagstaff, Arizona. Don't forget Winona..."
11 Nov 2008 What a beautiful morning!
12 Nov 2008 Goal 14 completed - Grand Canyon.
13 Nov 2008 Pretty dam spectacular!
15 Nov 2008 TV script writers running out of ideas?
17 Nov 2008 Goal 15 sculpted to perfection - Mount Rushmore.
18 Nov 2008 Goal 16 achieved - Las Vegas.
18 Nov 2008 Only in Las Vegas!
20 Nov 2008 Viva Las Vegas!
20 Nov 2008 "Kingman, Barstow, San Bernadino."
22 Nov 2008 San Diego.
22 Nov 2008 Goal 17 blows into place - skydive wind tunnel.
23 Nov 2008 Goal 18 completed - "More than 2,000 miles all the way."
24 Nov 2008 Goal 19 achieved - The City of the Angels.
26 Nov 2008 Another goal achieved, but...
27 Nov 2008 What an experience!
28 Nov 2008 Happy Thanksgiving Day! Goal 20 achieved!
29 Nov 2008 Small town LA - life's little coincidences!
03 Dec 2008 Art and science in LA.
05 Dec 2008 San Francisco.
06 Dec 2008 Goal 21 completed - San Francisco.
08 Dec 2008 Sailing on the Frisco Bay.
09 Dec 2008 Goal 22 is tamed - horse riding at sunset.
10 Dec 2008 Ghostly Goal 23 completed.
11 Dec 2008 Gold Beach, Oregon.
13 Dec 2008 Portland.
15 Dec 2008 Seattle.
18 Dec 2008 Time Magazine year-end lists.
Weeks 21 to 30
(42)
Weeks 31 to 40
(30)
Weeks 41 to 50
(37)
Weeks 51 to 60
(38)
Weeks 61 to 70
(36)
Weeks 71 to 80
(41)
Weeks 81 to 90
(34)
Weeks 91 to 100
(36)
Epilogue
(6)
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