Richard's jaunt

Friday, September 24, 2004

Leaving Frisco

Going on a hippy bus well away from civilisation for couple of weeks, so I've posted some random stuff to fill in.

Saw a car today pull away from the gas station, while leaving the hose and nozzle still inserted in the car. It drove off and ripped half the petrol pump away and dragged it up the street completely unaware.

Frisco is a fine place have to leave it now or I never will, already been offered a job.

As I walked down the street a tennis ball bounced into me yesterday, so I bounced it off the walls of the exercise yard of Alcatraz prison, just like the movies. Pretty emotive place.

Thursday, September 23, 2004

Lists

Some observations on the USA.

Yang things

  • Why is the 10 cent coin smaller than the 5c
  • Why are the dollar notes all the same shape and colour and look they have been made of toilet
  • paper. Never mind making web sites accessible, lets start with something fundamental like money.
  • Why does the milk taste so weird
  • Cheese; strange, tasteless gooey stuff. A variety of colours but not taste.
  • Choice, example 500 (I counted) preparations just to deal with head colds.And many variations of peanut butter are really needed
  • Why is nothing the price advertised, you have to do maths to work out the real price, which means nothing comes out at a nice round number.
  • Bloody one cent coins, bin them.
  • Taps, what is wrong with having simple hot and cold taps, not this game of is this a pull and twist (left or right?) or is it push, or which bit do you fiddle with to make the shower head work. Some are even motion activitated,I've even seen a motion activated hand towel dispenser.


Ying things (of many)

  • Green Tortise hostels
  • $3.99 for 1.5 litre red wine
  • book stores
  • The anti-bush jokes
  • China town
  • Fire engines
  • Sunshine every day
  • Music

Darker stuff

These are some the images that I found slightly disturbing..

The China man
He was on the corner of a busy street kneeling, pitched forward so that the rest of his body was only supported by his right hand jammed into an oversized peanut butter jar. His eyes screwed up tight and his body completely motionless. It looked like he was caught in a freeze frame, that he ought to topple over, or something should happen next. It was 4:30 in the afternoon. I would have sworn he was dead.

While walking down a fashionable boulevard I spot a pretty girl with long chestnut hair and big eyes staring into the distance. Her eyes matched the colour of the frapacino coffee that she nonchantly drank from a straw, having taken it from the garbage bin.

There are sexless figures, that have their cellophane skin stretched tight over withered bone and sinew. Their white skin stands out harsh against the dark concrete and asphalt streets, like a living negative.They are really creepy, drugs I guess?

On the overnight bus two guys, shaven heads, wrap around shades, vest T, tattoos. They are up beat, chattering freely, having been released from prison that day. One guy has the same winged tattoo as David Beckham on the back of his neck, except in the middle is a circle containing a red swastika. Slept well on the overnight bus.

Stuff

I'm writting this while under the under the influence, ojkay this like one those late night phone calls. I just spent too lonmg talking a girl through being pretty sick. You know the score. It happens to all of us, its your responsibility to help someone else to gret through the shit. It's way early in the morning. I'm tired.

Frisco is cool apart from right now. tommoorroew/daylight will be all beter, down to where it all started in 60 something. love r.

Monday, September 20, 2004

San Francisco

There was too much rain in Seattle so I traveled south, through Portland Oregon down to sunny California.

Today I spent reading after a long bus trip by lying in the park sunning myself under a powder blue sky, wiggling my toes in the gentle breeze. If I look between my feet the big orange bridge spans between my toes. I keep having to looking up to pinch myself.

Interesting lodgings, very mellow, free breakfast, bagels and bob dylan while sitting in an old run down theatre. The neighbourhood is a little zesty, there there are many little theatres along the street, though I'm not familiar with the film titles. Some the of girls seem a bit different to ones at home.

Looking forward to exploring this intriguing city.

Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Sleepless in Seattle

Very sleepless as currently poorly. This is probably why:

I hiked for miles over mountains, through valleys, along knife edge morraines, looking down on to glaciers, to the headwall of the valley at the very edge of the Columbia ice field. A round trip of some 15 miles from 1500-2500m altitude, as I go to get my camera to photo the headwall the clouds descend, followed by torrential ice cold rain, so no photo and I have to retrace my steps all the way back again, in the rain.

The second soaking. I trekked 3 miles to the trail head, checked over my shoulder and an angry black ball of cloud is skudding its way down the valley. Okay I'm out of here and I skip down the valley towards the nearest shelter. As the rain begins I hide under some tall trees which provide good protection. Bang! a thunder clap that near bounces me out of my shoes, bugger this, so I rapidly sprint across the open ground to make for the village. There is a railroad crossing just before the first building. Rain is starting to down harder. Noooo, from my right comes a freight train. To say it was a mile long is an understatement. When I started counting there were 84 wagons to the end of the train. So I stood their in the middle of the highway, the sky black, the rain is coming down so hard its bouncing up the inside of my coat. Sometimes you have to accept you were meant to get cold and wet.

But the Rockies are beautiful. There are nice flowery meadows and lots of little cute critters. Loads of weird fungi too, the sort of strange colors and shapes I'd associate with undersea reefs.

Its amazing the number of bear shaped shadows there are in the forest!. Just to fill you in. Bears run faster than horses, they have 6cm long claws and can bite clean through pine trees, oh and they're a little touchy about anyone being in their space. I found pretending they dont exist is the best approach and a big stick. It wont do anything but it makes you feel big and tough. Besides I'm too skinny to eat.

Oh so I end up with a really bad bought of flu, so I went to Seattle to chill and eats lots of meds (and chocolate).
The guy at the home made fudge counter must have felt sorry for me as snidely slipped me a whole kilo, nice guy.

Finally, I made it to my first ball game Seattle versus the Red Sox. It's neat as people bring beer and food to you, so you dont have to move, and you dont have to pay attention as the important bits are replayed anyway. Even better I did nt pay for ticket as another good guy I met gave me a spare, cool. I could not figure out the ticket, so I did the obvious thing go ask someone one where the best seats were and sat there. No one complained. There was a 1 in 40,000 chance it was the right one! By chance :-) it happened to be next to a pretty girl who was working for the Seattle Times. True as I checked her column the next day; and she bought the beer!

Maybe its a ying and yang thing .

Monday, September 06, 2004

Jasper, Alberta

I'm in a rock cafe, sipping coffee, listening to the Eagles, looking out of the window to a vista of snow capped mountains that loom over the small village.

Yet to do much exploring but the scenery is big, great turquoise rivers cascading through shear mountain passes. I'll let you know what I discover as I move south towards Banff.

As you have probably guessed I've given up on the route north. When I got the info on the ground, traveling without a car became a lot of hassle and weather is starting to turn, so it was nt worth the effort.

I can recommend Vancouver island (Tofino), fantastic surfing, sea kayacking, trekking through virgin rain forests, or just chilling watching the wildlife.

The jungle also contains the home of the banana slug, the world's biggest slug. It has sex sessions that last for 36 hours, often resulting in the female gnawing through the penis to free herself! Hmmm makes you wonder about those slug trails?

Things are pretty cool, looking to go up a few mountains. If you are planning to buy some outdoor kit check out mountain equipment a co-operative based in Canada, good gear, they also ship.

Sunday, September 05, 2004

Greyhound

I did my first overnight Greyhound bus. I feel like a real traveler now. My, you really see the under belly of life on a bus. General itinerants, kids with babies, drifters, stopping in some depressingly lonely places. I real eye opener. It's reminisent of a hundred road movies, makes me appreciate stuff I took for granted.