We did absoultely nothing all day, except sleep, play on the internet, and eat Aaron‘s grandmothers Cuban cooking. At night Aarons cousin, Becky, and her friend Jayme took us out for a local night on the town in Lakeland , Florida. After a bunch of drinks we ended up a a little pub where I somehow managed to get behind the bar,wash their glasses and make shots for my friends. I don’t really know how this worked out but it felt comfortable to be back behind the bar, even if it was only for a few minutes.
SEATTLE.LOS ANGELES.WORLDWIDE
Tag / USA
Day:109
Tap, tap, tap.
“Housekeeping?”
“Nooo…” We all mumble in unison, or at least as close as we could get to unity after barely four hours of sleep and the mass quantity of drinks we took in the night before.
Shit. I realize after a few minutes that I am wide awake and won’t be going back to sleep. I get up, shower and get some blogging in, laughing as I look through last nights 300 pictures. There are things in there that I had forgot I had done, and some I wish I could have forgot forever. (Oh, and to complete my New Orleans visit I did manage to pull some tail last night. Score for Rob, literally)
Finally around eleven everyone else starts to get up, because of our noon check out time and the fact that we want to make it all the way to Aaron’s grandparents house near Tampa, so we have a 12 hour drive ahead of us. We packed our bags and headed to the elevator for a quick elevator party and to see how Skittles stay in New Orleans was. We hand the valet the ticket, and he drives her down, complete with a flat tire.
Double Shit; Must have been that mammoth six inch deep Katrina pothole I hit yesterday on the way into the city. The hotel maintenance guy filled our tire and gave us directions to the local Wal-Mart where we could get in patched. To make a long story about car maintenance short, we ended up with a new tire, a tripod, a belly full of Cracker Barrel (which made Aaron and I slightly sick to the stomach), and got back on the road around 3pm.
Hours of endless driving through three new states and we soon came to the realization of one undeniable fact: Florida is a big state. It was three-thirty in the morning before we found ourselves in muggy Lakeland Florida, being escorted through Aaron’s Cuban grandmothers home to the den where they had set up air mattresses for all of us. It was a welcome sight.
Day: 107
Bacon filled my nose at 9am while Heather made a giagantic breakfast full of bacon, eggs, pancakes, OJ and biscuits.
Matt and I chased cows off of the 5th green.
We followed through with some plans we made with George and Pam (the friends of Heather and Dean) to head out to the lake on one of their boats and have a three hour party. (We even spotted the elusive Oklahoman Beer Dragon)
We got back to the house to the smell of shrimp cooking and the tables covered in paper for Heather’s amazing Shrimp boil.
Extremely stuff, we loaded our car, said our goodbyes and got back out on the open road.
Crossed two new states, Tennessee and Arkansas.
Day: 106
Dean, who is the captain of the local volunteer fire department, had to get up this morning at 4:30am to get to the station to start cooking the monthly firemans breakfast fundraiser. We, being the lazy bastards we are, set our alarm for 8am and were out of the house to have our all you can eat gravy covered breakfast by 8:30am. We meant lots of the locals who all seemed interested in our trip and all told us their advice on there local culture and road trip tips. We picked up a thirty pack and made our way back to the house for another round of golf, but had to wait for our hosts to return so we could get the clubs out of the office. We hung out on the porch and wrote, etc, etc, etc.
Finally around noon we headed out to the links. I lost by a landslide, I scored 45 on seven holes of golf. I think Dean won with something like a 28. Pathetic score, but in my defense, the beer had really started to kick in by the time we made it through the third hole. I decided, that after a thrilling defeat I should head down to the pier and do something I am sort of good at… floating in the water cooling off, and moving as little as possible. The afternoon rolled by and before we knew it we were getting ready for a Caribbean dinner party the Heather and Dean had been invited to (I wore a hawaiian shirt), and when they had told their hosts that they may not make it because of us, we also received invites. When we arrived at Kathy and Larry’s home we were greeted with cocktails and a plethora of older women (mostly 65+) who all wanted to have a good time. We got a slight buzz and ate until we were stuffed (on another note: all the weight I lost on my ride is already back, Dang!), and were the first to leave; As per Deans earlier instructions that he didn’t really want to hang out all night with these people and we should try to get out of there by 9pm so we could get some fishing in.
Back at the pier we all baited out hooks with minnows; within an hour Matt, Chad and I had all pulled in some catfish. Aaron, on the other hand, stood waiting for a couple of hours with no bites and finally called it a night after Dean found me a net and began teaching me how to fish by sending it sailing into the lake. I played with it until my shoulder was sore, and had caught a few small fish, then let Matt have a try at it, we eventually got lazy and just waited above the water and tried to drop it on the fish. Completely exhausted we all made our way to sleep some time after midnight.
Day: 105
Driving my way into Day: 105 as the sun is cresting the eastern horizon and my three companions are passed out all over Skittles (the car). I’m somewhere around Oklahoma City, tweeked out on Red Bulls and (actual) Skittles with another hundred miles or so to Matt’s aunt and uncles house on Lake Eufaula. I drive on for sixty miles or so, wake everyone up and, pull into the Hungry Traveler for and Oklahoman breakfast covered in gravy.
We jump back in our ride and I power through the last half an hour of driving, we finish up on a dirt road that ended on a seven hole private golf course and a beautiful house situated on the country’s second largest man made lake. We meet Dean and Heather (Matt’s aunt and uncle), are shown our room where we cleaned up and all laid down for a morning nap, exhausted from the last 22 hours of driving.
Matt and I woke up first, around 12:30pm, and made our way out to Dean’s shop/office where he produces carbide tips for specialty cutting tools. We had the complete tour, then I sat down with an internet connection to get my blog updated while Matt got caught up with with his family. Eventually Aaron and Chad made their way out to the shop and the four us decided to shoot a round of golf (where I actually parred two holes).
After our golf, Heather called up a friend, Charlene, who sells fireworks, and even though yesterday was the last legal day to sell in Oklahoma, she said she’d open her stand specially for us and even give us a discount. We stocked up on a huge assortment of explosive devices; Mortars, Roman Candles, Black Cats, M-80s, Jumping Jacks, and even some things that looked like Saddam and Osama that supposedly shot gouts of flame in the air and eventually their heads blew up. We went crazy in this little shack of explosives and got completely stocked for the weekend.
Loaded down with a trunkful of things that could take off my fingers, went went back to the ranch and got ready to head out to dinner with Heather, Dean and another couple, Pam and George, who they had standing friday night plans with for Mexican food and ice cream. After dessert Dean and George headed home, while Pam and Heather took the four of us on a tour around the marina and the local summer hot spots. We could have stayed for a beer, but our hosts had plans for us to do, some night fishing and fireworks. Which were spectacular.
I woke up with the feel of cheap tan polyester on my face and an angry hungover dragon in my skull. It was only nine-thirty, but we had to get on the road, hoping to make it to Lake Eufalia to meet up with Matt’s aunt and uncle by tomorrow afternoon. The only pleasure of this entire morning was that I didn’t have to drive first.
We loaded up, hit the grocery store for lunch meat, ate Lunch, and set out for a day that we had figured would lack significant blogging stories. The car was devouring the asphalt and near sunset, somewhere in a desolate stretch of New Mexico (when I was finally behind the wheel), we saw lightning in the distance and some of the darkest clouds I have ever seen. Chad looks at me and says: “It’s looks like we’re driving into hell.”; and that is pretty much what it was. It started with just a heavy rain, then is seemed God was hitting us with buckets, and after a minute (when I was going about 25/mph) I felt as if I had just driven directly into the pacific and the waves were crashing on the windshield. I had to pull over with everyone else and wait out the downpour.
We found dinner at a roadside diner around 8pm, our faces gathering that sheen of long car travels, had some shitty food and decided to push through tonight, not stop in Texas, and just try to make it to Oklahoma by morning. I passed the driving off to Aaron and passed out in the back seat only to be awoken for our border pictures at Texas and Oklahoma.
Day: 103
“Casino.” That’s all I said over the screaming radio, 45 minutes into the first day driving Skittles across the country. Casino Morongo was coming up like a spire in the California desert. Matt, who was next to me asleep, opened his eyes trying to see if I was serious, Chad and Aaron glanced back thinking the same thing. I just grinned as we pulled in the right lane, set ourselves a twenty minute gambling limit (we still had to make it to Arizona to meet our friend Kris) and wandered into Bloody Mary’s and blackjack.
Twenty four minutes later when the dealer went to reshuffle, I was up $75 with half a cocktail in front of me (complete with an assortment of vegetables) and Aaron was reaching for his wallet to pull out another $40..
“We need to leave now…” I said it, but my heart wasn’t in it, I was hoping to be out voted by the team. I wasn’t. We cashed out and made for the highway heading east.
After a quick $4 (no student discount!) stop at the General Patton museum in the middle of the desert, where we learned about desert fighting and the advent of the tanks in battle, I passed out in the back seat for a few hours as we flew through the endless sand.
Arriving in Phoenix we found Kris’s place, started to mix ourselves a few celebratory drinks (hey, we made it through the first day without getting pulled over) and made plans for a scandalous evening. From here on out the night got rather blurry, but I powered through, hitting all the Arizonan girls (no offense, but most of the girls were rather rude to us), and documenting the whole thing with my camera. We hit three or four bars (all across the street from the apartment we where in) and ate some burgers for dinner at a standard American chain restaurant with endless fries.
During dinner, sitting on a bar stool, my camera in one hand and my chicken sandwich in the other I leaned back slightly and suddenly my precarious perch had gone beyond that precious balancing point and I was plummeting backwards towards the ground, camera hand shooting into the air and dropping my honey mustard covered dinner back in its basket. The camera was fine and my sandwich was still edible but my ass was going to be sore in the morning. Feeling thoroughly schooled in the physics of this particular chair, but still lacking my balance, I thought I was now in complete control on my dining experience; right… Within minutes, with everyone watching, I somehow managed to topple backwards for a second time, laughing my bruised ass off the whole was down. Ouch. Although the kicker came when the bartender (who had been standing there for this whole episode) poured me another cocktail.
The night was a wash with booze, mean women, and random Phoenix-ite company and I found my beautiful piece of floor just after three AM. Great start to this next leg.
Day: 102+2 (Not a travel day, but too funny not to share with the world)
(Turkey April. 2006, I needed some picture)
So yesterday I was riding a bicycle in the parking lot of REI just minding my own business (test riding a replacement for Moanahh), when some guy in a Tahoe quickly backs out about three feet in front of me and I slam into the side of his car moving at a pretty good clip.
Needless to say I cleared the handlebars of the bike, crushed the lower half of my body against the back of his car/bumper and landed using my shoulders, elbows, knees and right pinky as brakes on the pavement.
Think Waynes World where Waynes ex-girlfriend hits the car while Wayne and Garth play hockey.
When I came to my senses there was a rush of people coming out of Chick-filet to see if I was alright, all gathered around me like squaking hens asking me questions over and over like my adreniline that was throbbing through my veins would let me think anytime soon.
“Are you all right?”
“Should we call 911?”
“You OK?”
“Anything broken?”
“Are you all right?”
All I could say is “Could you guys be quite for one minute? Just give me a second…”
It took me a minute, but my self inventory quickly resulted in nothing seious; a little blood, some scrapes and bruises, and possibly a broken pinky.
“I think I’m ok…”
“Are you sure? We could take you to the hospital.”
“Hell no.” I replied. “I don’t have insurance, and I dont want that hassle.”
I staggered to my feet head spinning and laughed a little laugh, which I think stunned those around me. I had just spent the better part of the last 3 weeks riding a Bicycle 500 miles to San Francisco with no problems, through winding mountian roads and windy windswept beaches up PCH with cars wizzing by and now I get hit. In front of a Chickfilet, ten minutes from home…
The Chick-filet manager helped bandage me up and I took the driver of the Tahoe into REI to help explain the situation of their brand new bikes front end looking like it had just been run over. The front rim and the forks were all out of wack. They took it into their bike shop and took a look at it , came out and told the driver and I not to worry they could fix it. I’m starting to love REI. The absolute best part was the salesman who wanted me to try out a few more bikes. I thought about it, but instead told him: “I don’t really think it’s my day to buy a bike.”
The world sure has an odd sense of humor.
The adreniline kept me giggling all the way back home, I couldn’t believe a car had just hit me. I think Moanahh must have laid some bad mojo on me.
Bitch.
Day: 102
We Packed our bags and left them with the bellboy, having about three hours before we needed to get on the BART to head to the San Francisco airport we decided to make our way towards the Wharf on foot. We made it to Northbeach when we started to notice the massive 10 block streetfair complete with beer gardens on every block. Sarah and I immediately realized we’ll never make it to the Wharf this morning.
On top of the “Northbeach Streetfair” the world cup match of Italy vs. USA was about to start! Northbeach being a heavily Italian area, the crowds seemed divided over who should win. The streets were throbbing with this energy. We quickly found our first beer in the beer garden just after ten thirty, starting to be a little bummed we only had a few more hours here, but ready to make the most of it. A few beers later we got out of the sun and into one of the bars that was literally overflowing into the streets, and the game hadn’t even started!
Beer, Beer, Jager shot, Beer, Lunch. Oh shit! Ten more minutes and we have to get a cab back to the hotel to grab the bags and jump on the BART.
On the train to the airport I start to do that thing were you start to fall asleep but at the last second you jerk your head back real quickly and look like an ass. Over and over.
We made it to the airport, found our plane was going to be a little late, and sobered up in the waiting area.
Thus ends another leg of The World Tour. My next adventure is me, and a carload of three friends, chasing after the classic American roadtrip from one coast to the other. I leave on July 5th, so no real post between now and then, but in the next few days I will be putting up a page with some of my favorite pictures that you can buy prints of to help support my wanderings. Hopefully I can fund a few more days this way. Check back soon!
Oh, and to you Riverside(rs?) and Corona(ns?); If anyone wants to hang out in the next couple of weeks, send me an email (Robertcpaetz@yahoo.com). I don’t really have any grand plans (except sitting by my mom’s pool) for the next couple of weeks.