Thursday April 9: The many wonders of Texas

Oh dear reader, today has been a magnificent day. The reason Pete and I took this trip is three fold. Reason one: Meeting friends. Reason two: Sunning in California. Reason three: Seeing new and interesting things. Today, we successful completed both reason three and one.

Thirty seconds after entering the state everything Bugs Bunny taught me about Texas was turned out to be true. We were greeted by two friendly and very stereotypical tumbleweeds as they darted across the highway, it was great. The second thing we noticed, was the wind had picked up. My little car began to be tossed back and forth across the highway as it tried to join the tumbleweeds in their playful dance. Eventually we reached the visitor center for the state, where we were informed of what the locals call "The Grand Canyon of Texas". The night before, we had traveled more distance than we had planned, so we were ahead of schedule for today. We decided to reward ourselves with a trip through the state park of the canyon. I lack the words to describe how beautiful, inspiring, and stunning it is, so I will just post some of the many, many pictures that we took. Some time soon, we are gonna try to get a website up where we can dump more pictures, we had over one hundred of this canyon, it was breath taking.


Eventually, we returned to the highway and continued moving south towards Aly, Ram, and Lubbock. We met up with Ram and he kindly directed us to the Holiday Inn where we would be staying during our time in the city. A few moments later, Aly showed up with some supper, along with two of their sons and one of their sons friends. After introductions we all sat around the pool having one of the best roasts with potatos and veggies I have ever had. Pete and I are very sorry, oh reader, we do not have a picture of this meal. Perhaps it is for the best, drooling on your keyboard is not good for your computer.

After supper, Aly and Ram took us for a bit of a tour of the city. This included a twilight encounter with Buddy Holley at his current home, followed by a drive down to a bright blinking world that appeared to be a mini Vegas just outside the city limits. After this, we stopped in at a local watering hole where we sampled some local apple juice and talked well into the night about all the contraversal subjects that are considered taboo during first meetings. Opps. We were somewhere around the topic of socialism in government when the establishment closed house and the four of us were forced to return to the hotel room, where we continued to talk about nothing and everything. Eventually Ram started to fall asleep and even my incredibly clever banter and witty jokes was unable to keep his attention for long. They have now wandered off, presumably towards home, and left me to write of todays adventures. Tomorrow looks like it shall be another very full day, I am so looking forward to it. It is time for bed now, in the hopes of being able to keep up with all the fantastic activities Aly and Ram sound like they have in store for us.

Oh, one more thing. Ram has introduced Pete to some new culinary wonders that he has never experienced before. Alas, I couldn't participate, but I think Pete liked it.

Wednesday April 8: Sikeston to Elk City

Today was a day of driving.

We rolled out of bed at 8am, loaded up the car and headed off to Dexter, Missouri to meet up with Nem for breakfast at McDonald's. I've been very impressed with all of the Micky Dee's here in the States. They've all seemed to have had a face lift and are much nicer than their Canadian counterparts. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast with relaxing conversation and pleasant company but much too soon it was time to bid our farewells and hit the road again. We were determined to put as much distance in today as we could.

Missouri in Nem's neck of the woods is really flat, with farmland stretching as far as the eye can see. Little towns dot the horizon, but for the most parts it is farms, farms and more farms. We even saw a crop duster, and it was fun to watch it's aerial displays. Our travels took us across the entire southern end of the state, and farmland eventually gave way to rolling hills. I took over driving after lunch, and the road we were travelling, highway 60, was one of the most enjoyable I've ever driven on. All ups and downs and twists and turns. We threw on Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and so, passed a very nice afternoon.

All good things must end, however, and for us that ending happened on the Oklahoma state border. All in all, I am not very impressed with Oklahoma; it's not a very tourist friendly state. The first inkling we had of this was when we pulled up to the Tourist Information Center, just on the other side of the state line, and found it locked up tight. We were a little put out by this, as we were hoping to pick up a hotel coupon book which had served us so well in Tennessee. But life doesn't always work out the way one hopes, and we're more than willing to roll with the punches, so we hopped back in the car and zoomed off.

Then, we encountered our first toll of the trip. We had plenty of warning that it was coming, but we're very unfamiliar with the concept and as Illidan would say, we were not prepared. Knowing it was just up ahead, I started to fumble in my wallet only to look up and discover we were in the express transponder lane with no way to get over to the little booths. Yes, folks, we breezed through the toll without paying.

We pulled over to the side of the road and stared at each other for a few minutes in horror, frozen by indecision as to what exactly we could do to rectify our mistake and half expecting police sirens and bull horns. My supervisor, Sean, had warned me before the trip of what they do to people in our current situation. Most unpleasant! We hesitantly got out of the car and made our way back to the little building in the hopes that our plaintive "we're Canadian" excuse might convince them to be lenient with us. Their reactions were actually kind of disappointing. Apparently, they've encountered Canucks before and to them it's just par for course. We paid the toll, were instructed to call a hotline for further instructions (likely to mail in a receipt of our payments to forestall a ticket being sent in the mail), and that's that. Back to driving!

Our recent misadventures set a bad tone for the rest of our day, and driving through Oklahoma City did nothing to lighten the mood. We somehow ended up on the turnpike instead of taking the Interstate through the middle of the town (mostly due to poor, poor navigation on my part... Hitchhiker is a very engrossing story) and had to go through toll station after toll station. It was stressful, and we were very happy to see the other side of the city come and go.

As a side note, we've been very pleased with the quality of the roads we've traveled on so far in this trip. I know from experiences in New York State that upkeep in some states can be a low priority, but Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri all keep an excellent road system. And they somehow manage to do it without sticking a toll booth in every couple miles. Now, in Oklahoma, a state that has all this extra revenue from motorists, I find myself not so impressed with road conditions. One thing I am curious about, however, are the many signs on the side of the Interstate which read "Do Not Drive Through Smoke". I can only imagine what they might mean.

We eventually decided to crash for the night in a little town called Elk City, not too far from the Texas border. We found a hotel called Economy Express, which totally caters to our desire to lodge cheaply. Despite being obviously old, and a little run down, the rooms are spacious and clean, and look very inviting to a pair of weary travelers.

Tomorrow, we can leave this state behind and make our way into Texas. We very excited to meet Aly and Ram in Lubbock. Google Maps clocks the trip from here to there at 5 hours, so we're going to allow ourselves to sleep in a bit before hitting the road.

Goodnight, all! =)

Tuesday April 7: Nem and Chance and more.

Good day everyone. Today began as most of my days at home began; my beauty sleep being intruded upon by some obnoxious music with me flailing about in the general directing of the audible assault in the hopes of making it go away. Consciousness quickly swept away the cobwebs of the early morning brain and the memory of where we were brought me around the rest of the way. We were on holidays.

Nem and Chance wore me out yesterday, what a great day. I know Pete mentioned it on his last post, but if anyone happens by Sikeston MO, be sure to stop in for a bite to eat at Lamburts. Actually, a bite to eat might not be the best way to describe it. I don’t think we need to eat for the rest of the trip.

Of course we kinda do like to eat, and with that in mind, we packed up, bid farewell to Sikeston and took a short drive down the highway to meet up with Nem one last time over breakfast. We had a great chat over a McDonalds Skillet Burrito with our conversation ranging all over the place. Eventually, we arrived on the topic of Will, and I realized that Pete and I were the only people talking; Nem had shut up. I was scared... she wasn’t talking. In fact, for a moment, I feared she might have been choking; her face was turning red slightly. When I asked if she was ok, she only responded by mumbling something under her breath. I caught the word “Galrunner” but that was all, and she refused to speak more clearly. Ahh well, as the conversation moved onto a different subject she found her voice again, and things were back to normal.

Since breakfast, we have been travelling in a roughly westerly direction. The drive itself is very enjoyable. We are off the interstate, and are driving along highway 60. Oh, hey, we have found something in Missouri that we have never seen before. A lot of their highways or roads are not numbered, they are lettered. We have passed highway AA, Y, R, OO, T, PP, and a lot of others. Maybe there is something special about these lettered highways, but it is funny never the less. This drive has been lovely. There has been a lot of road construction going on, so we are constantly jumping from one side of the highway to the other. Even with all the construction, we have been moving very quickly down to the road due to the lack of traffic, and have been really enjoying this leg of the trip. The roads themselves are fun to drive on, lots of turn, blind hills, and the construction just makes it more interesting. The dirt is redder than any dirt I have ever seen. As they scrap away at the earth in preparation for adding new lanes to the highway, I am filled with the thought, I wonder if that is what the surface of Mars looks like.

This day is looking like it is going to be a long drive. I have a couple of books in my bag waiting to be cracked open, but I feel as though I missed an opportunity to pick up some great American literature that I may not be able to get again. Actually, I was a little bit disappointed in the selection. I was looking for an alliance edition, but we could only find the horde copies. I guess there is always Amazon.

My family will be happy to know that in the last few days my photography skills have grown immensely, or at least, I think so. Part of this development is my new found ability to take a picture of myself and another person without needing a third person to hold the camera. Here is example of a picture I took that illustrates my budding skill in the art of taking pictures. After taking this picture and recognizing the brilliance of it, I decided that this was such a good picture that it should be worth money, and was therefore a “money shot”. My declaration brought our entire procession to a halt as everyone tried to convince me that this was not in fact a “money shot”. Knowing that I am still new to the world of art, I asked what was wrong, but nobody could really find any fault with the picture. Decided that everyone was simply jealous of my skills, I changed the subject, and the issue was forgotten.

Tuesday April 7: Nem and Chance

We did it! We actually got up when we planned to get up, and after loading up the car and enjoying another continental breakfast we saddled up and hit the road. It was kind of a bittersweet farewell as we had such a great time enjoying Cali's delightful company. But I expect we'll have many such partings as our trip continues.

Once on the interstate, we pointed ourselves in the direction of western Kentucky. It continues to amaze us at the variations in landscape from state to state. Kentucky is quite breathtaking, with all of it's rolling hills and lush vegetation. The road is often cut into a hill, so we're passing between sheer rock cliffs with the greenery appearing to be cascading off the sides. Such a lovely trip.

From Kentucky, we crossed the Mississippi River and into Missouri. I tried to get some good photos of the legendary river, but it's really hard to do from a moving car. You'll have to settle for this shot of the bridge leading into Missouri. It was instantly apparent that we had moved into a new state, as Missouri (or at least the part that we could see) is continuously flat farmland. Such a difference from Kentucky!

Amusingly enough, right on the other side of the state line lie two little towns within a mile of each other--Wilson City and Wyatt. It was fun speculating on some long distant feud that caused the towns to grow up so close to each other yet remaining separate.

We were scheduled to meet Nem and Chance at a famous restaurant in Sikeston called Lambert's (home of the "Throwed Roll"... copied verbatim from their slogan). We kinda got lost, however, and had to stop and ask for directions. ir bad navigator =( . But we eventually made it, and we weren't even late. Nem and Chance had only recently arrived themselves and were outside waiting for us. There was a bit of a line to get in, but we were informed that not only is it usual, it's actually a fairly short line for what they were accustom to. Lambert's is definitely unique in my experience, probably in most peoples experience. Once seated, a girl came around offering deep fried okra (some vegetable) which she then unceremoniously dumped onto a paper towel on the table. It was tasty. Then the famous rolls arrived, which were thrown to us from across the dining room by a very skilled and accurate roll thrower. Very nice hot rolls, if given in an unconventional method. Chris and I ordered a burger and fries, Chance had the liver and onions and Nem ordered a salad. When the food came, I was very glad I didn't follow Nem's example. The salad was ENORMOUS (shown here) and served in a bread bowl. I could barely finish my burger, especially because people kept showing up offering random sides, like fried potatoes, macaroni, or black eyed beans. Not to mention more okras and "throwed rolls". As Chris said, "I eat and eat but the amount of food on my plate keeps growing!" Such a cool experience.

From there, we all piled into Nem's new car and headed downtown in search of a Missouri state flag for Chris. Alas, there was none to be had, though we did get the opportunity to meet Nem and Chance's mom. Finding a state flag is a lot more difficult than you'd imagine. Chris has a hobby of picking up flags of all the places where he stays, and so far we've been lucky. When we first entered Missouri, we saw a sign advertising the Flag Stop. Surely a Flag Stop would have flags for sale, right? Not so! It's just your run of the mill gas station. /humph

After seeing the downtown of Sikeston, we all headed up to a state park to chill out. The park had a Nature Center with a lot of cool exhibits, though oddly enough they didn't allow us to bring in our concealed firearms. Because of my new cowboy hat, everyone agreed that I had to ride the bull (frog). =) They also had a nice trail to follow. It was a nice (if steep) stroll through the woods.

Then, we all headed over to a picnic area and listened to Chance and then myself play a little guitar. They had also brought along a pair of foam Nerf swords, which were quickly put to use as we all dueled each other. I think Chris endured the brunt of it all. /evil grin (as an aside, trying to fit all of the great pictures we're taking into a post is proving to be impossible. As soon as I have a few hours at a hotel room, I'll make the Facebook Album I promised you all so you can see what you've been missing).

Next, it was time to do some shopping! First, the siblings took us to a local mall. We had a chance to see some of the shops, and we hit up an arcade where Chris and I had a Dance, Dance Revolution duel. He won, which should come to no surprise to anyone who knows me. Two left feet, this cowboy has. We also hit up a local Walmart so I could buy some sandals in preparation for our upcoming days in some sunnier, sandier states, and we were taken to a dollar store. But this wasn't like any dollar store I've ever seen before. First of all, everything really was only one dollar. And the amount of stuff they had; it was incredible! Not only did they have your run of the mill dollar store items, but they had a grocery section (well stocked) and pretty much anything else you can think of. If I had one of these near where I live I don't think I'd shop anywhere else.

We finished the day off at a McDonalds, enjoying some coffees and great conversation. At one point we somehow got on the topic of what would happen if the local police were looking for us. "Just look for the nice man in the cowboy hat," said Chance. "Subject is unarmed and very polite. Approach without caution!"

Eventually, however, it was time to bid our adieus. It was great to finally meet Chance and get to know him a little better. Best of luck with the rest of your schooling, man! And as for Nemmy, we're meeting her for breakfast tomorrow before heading on towards Oklahoma. As a parting gift, Nem surprised us with a pre-paid cell phone, "just in case" she said. The generosity and hospitality of our American friends is a little overwhelming sometimes.

We've ended up at a dingy little Super 8 for the night, though not as dingy as I was expecting. Chris crashed right off the bat, and is currently snoring happily away while I write up this post. He has reason to be happy, however--I gave him an award. =)

Monday April 6 Cali is the most polite American we have ever met!

Good evening readers. The time contained in this post is the minority for how we spent the day, but despite the fun we had in Nashville, it is by far the most enjoyable. It did, however, start on a rather odd note. Pete's last post ended with us making a mad dash to a restaurant to meet up with Cali, the scheduled meeting time was between 6:30 and 7. We arrived at about 6:45 hoping that if she was already there, she hadn't been waiting long. As we walked up to the seater of the restaurant, we didn't really know what to say. Turns out honesty wasn't the right approach.

"Welcome" she said.
"Hi" we responded. "We are to meet a friend here. Has she arrived yet?"
"What is her name?" the server asked.
"Cali" we said.
"No, there is nobody listed named Cali. Why don't you take a look around and maybe you can see her."
"Well.... we don't exactly know what she looks like."
At this point, the waitresses eyes went very wide with some sort of sudden insight, her mouth dropped open, and all she could say for a moment was "......oooooooooh...."
Eventually, she realized she was still standing there, staring at us with her mouth wide open. She then executed one of the fastest about-faces I had ever seen and began to walk away, whispering the words "Follow me." as she went.
/sigh

Ahh well. Turns out we were exceptionally early. At some point, unknown to us, we had crossed a time zone. When Cali still hadn't arrived, and it was now a quarter after seven, we began to do some thinking... something we try not to do very often. The light bulb eventually turned on over our head as we realized our error. Soon Cali showed up and we enjoyed a pleasant meal that included deep fried pickles, something neither Pete nor I have ever had. They had an extremely bizarre, but fun flavor.

We then took a drive down to the Opryland Hotel, one of the most spectacular buildings I have ever been in. Only my own family would recognize the reference, but it was like Ester's Inn on steroids. It had a river running through it, an entire building complex, and more trees and plants than most forests.


After exploring the indoor jungle, we proceeded to a local bowling alley where I was able to apply some of the skills Celer had taught us, and won both games. Both games, Cali and Pete were neck and neck, with the point split being only one or two points. The evening ended with us being kicked out of McDonald's after knocking back sundays and discussing the unusual name of our Canadian one and two dollar coins.

All in all, an immensely enjoyable evening, everything that we hoped for and more. All that remains now is to go to sleep and be ready for a very early morning tomorrow morning. Each morning of this trip so far was supposed to be early, but this time we mean it. Honest.

Monday April 6: Nashville

Our plan was to start the day off early. Alas, we're on vacation, and apparently getting up early is a difficult thing for us to do. So, we rolled out of bed close to 10am, had our showers and grabbed some continental breakfast. The hotel clerk thought it odd that we mixed our peaches with our bran flakes, but then he went on to describe how he only eats popcorn with ketchup. Sounds messy, if you ask me.

Once fooded up, we hit the road for Nashville. Our hotel is located about 20 minutes outside the downtown core, and with some skilled navigation from yours truly we arrived on Broadway street, where all the action is (or so we were told). Right off the bat our interest was piqued by a sign advertising "Wild Bill's Cajun Doughnuts" and we just had to go in and try some. The dougnuts were made right in front of us and reminded me a lot of the Dutch doughnuts (ollibollen) my dad used to make every New Years. Very tasty!

Now, for some music! The guy at Wild Bill's had recommended his favorite place, but unfortunately it wasn't open on Mondays, so we headed next door to a venue called Robert's Western World. There was a very friendly guy on stage named John Sheppherd who kept trying to elicit song suggestions from us. Since neither Chris nor me are very familiar with country music, his attempts weren't very successful. We asked the bartender if she had any local brews so she gave us a couple Yazoo Pale Ale's which were very tasty.

After enjoying some old Willy Nelson and Johnny Cash tunes, we headed out to find some more adventure. We happened upon a store advertising the Charlie Daniels museum with no admission charge, so we figured, why not? Again, neither of us were at all familiar with the singer, but it seems he's done some pretty impressive things. Tons of awards, citations from his time in the military, and pictures of him shaking hands with various presidents. The store also sold cowboy hats, which Chris insisted I try on. Pink's not my color, all I'm sayin'.

Wanting to hear some more live country music, we stopped off at the Legends venue. Some guy was on stage (we didn't catch his name) but he was pretty underwhelming and we quickly moved on. We ended up at The Stage which had just opened it's doors and a full country band was just starting a set. We ordered some coffees and sat back to enjoy. Again, we didn't catch the name of the band (if they even had one; the waitress didn't seem to think they did) but they were very good; the entire bar was filled with toe tapping, and sometimes dancing, patrons. The Stage had some odd rules about solicitation. The women there complied, being so subtle that Chris and I didn't even realize if any of them were trying to solicit us.

Unfortunately we were running out of time, so we hopped in the car and headed back to the hotel so I could throw up this post (and keep all of you people who are undoubtedly on the edge of your seats satisfied) and we could get ready for our visit with Cali. I'm so looking forward to it.

More later. Oh, and by the way, I did end up buying a cowboy hat. But it's not pink. =)

Sunday April 5. Parting is such sweet, sweet sorrow... OK, what's next?

Good morning everyone. After a hugely successful first day of our trip, Pete and I were eager to see what day two held in store for us. Unfortunately, it started with the downer of having to bid farewell to our hosts from Ohio and get back on the road once again. For the second day, Pete and I are much, much later in our departure than we had hoped. A combination of sleeping in late, and Celer cooking up a nice pancake breakfast, it was almost noon before we climbed into the car and pointed it south. Due to some clever planning on our part, however, we find we are not really in a hurry to get anywhere today. The weather is nice, and we have what we believe to be only 6 hours of driving ahead of us. As we cross the border between Ohio and Kentucky, we look down the road with scepticism. We were incredibly pleased the state of Ohio, our entire time there felt exceptionally comfortable and familiar, very similar to home. The people were nice, and Celer even called his drink a “pop” which shocked me greatly. I have been trying to practice calling it a “soda” for quite some time now, in the hopes of easing language barriers.

Although many of you know this already, I would like to formally announce that Peter is now 28, such a great age to be. Please join me in helping wish him a happy birthday as he spends it trapped in a small bubble of metal and plastic with me.

/raise glass in a toast to Pete

As we travelled through Kentucky, we find that it too is quite beautiful, but for some very different reasons. The landscape has transformed from farmland to some rolling hills, with nature and color constantly attempting to drive back mans intrusion into this lush environment. Since the foliage has been at least temporarily halted by the pavement, it has begun an aerial attack, but reaching over the road and besieging civilization from above. Gorgeous.

Eventually we arrived into Tennessee, and were soon looking for a place to stay. After stopping in the welcome center of the state and scouring over coupon books, we located what looked to be a cheap motel called “America’s Best Value Inn”.

NOTE: Before I go on about the hotel, Pete and I were pleased to see our a unique example of local art. It appears to be some statues of flat people. We aren't quite sure what is means, but I suspect that it is an open hand of greeting to all visitors, combined with a severe expression of teenage rebellion.

Seeing as we are all about experiencing Americas best everything, it seemed like a natural choice. All in all, we have no complaints. Took a bit of effort to get a room with a working door, but eventually we had a room all to ourselves. Once we had unpacked, it was time to eat. After driving around for a few moments, we stumbled upon a restaurant called Cici’s Pizza. Having knowledge of this restaurant from my time in Florida, it seemed like a good choice for a couple of hungry men who hadn’t eaten since breakfast. We gorged, and then returned to the room where we were quick to shut down for the evening. The next day was to be an early morning, full of everything the US has to offer to the world of music.

Ohhh, I am out of time. The morning did not turn out to be early, and it is time to go find some breakfast before they put it all away. Wish us luck that they saved us some.

Saturday April 4: Lazz Recap

What a great day, yesterday was. Before I turn the computer over to Light so he can tell you all about today, I just wanted to share some of the highlights of last night.

Ohio is such a beautiful state. It's funny, I never really developed a mental picture of Ohio; it's just one of those states that flies below the radar (see what I did there? Ohio is the birthplace of aviation.). And Tipp City, where Celer works was the icing on the cake. Ohio seems to be a good month ahead of us in Ontario in terms of the weather, despite only being about six hours south. So we had a chance to enjoy some full fledged spring. Green grass, budding trees, daffodils starting to show off their colors, and just gorgeous weather. We had a really great afternoon just chillin' at a park.

Though I do have one quick question for Celer. What's with all the dead deer on the side of the interstate? There's literally one a mile.. that's a lot of roadkill!

We met up with Celer at his work and then followed him to his house. We all piled into Celers car and headed to Fricken's, an American sports bar chain (think Jack Astors meets Chuck E Cheese's). The place was just hoppin', so we had to kill some time in their game room before getting a seat. Chris and Celer had a game of air hockey, I showed everyone just how well Canadians can shoot hoops (3 baskets in 40 seconds... booyeah), and Chris jumped some electronic rope. Good times.

After that, we headed off to go bowling. But first, Celer wanted to buy me a pack of clove cigarettes (I've never tried them before). And get this, we got them from a drive thru convenience store. And I mean literally, a drive through. Think of a drive thru car wash, stripped of it's guts and stuffed full of candy, chips, cigarettes, etc. Then the customer just drives through the middle of the store and tells the clerk what he wants. Mind boggling! Apparently these are quite common down here.

Celer took a shortcut through the woods and Light made some nervous jokes, but don't worry, nothing untoward happened. And I ended up doing really well at bowling, which surprised me to no end. I'm usually terrible at any activity that requires me hitting something with something else in an accurate manner.

Afterwards, we headed back to Celers and watched the new X-files movie. What a great night! So thanks so much, Celer and Mudslinger, for you generosity and hospitality. You really started this trip off with a bang for us. And then Celer cooked us pancakes and sausage for breakfast. Just so good. =)

On a more technical note, we've decided to not do picture only posts, though we have many more pics than the one's we're throwing up here. Instead, I'm going to make an ongoing Album on my facebook and post a link to it here. So look for it on the sidebar.