The Bean, The Big Apple and The Lowlands

No more China, no more United Stated, but back in the Netherlands!!!

On Tuesday last week we arrived in Chicago and once again we found ourselves welcomed by some great people that allowed us to stay at their place. In this case it were Sophie's parents. In the next two days we explored downtown Chicago: the museums, the Millennium Park with the Bean, the pier and we met up with some of Shoshannah's old college friends. A nice visit to a nice city.



On Friday we had a very early flight to New York. Everything went fine and JFK is connected to the city by subway so it was easy enough to reach our final destination in New York: the apartment of Shosh's best friend, Georgia, in Brooklyn. That day we decided to explore New York's nightlife and meet up with Mike (from China) while doing so. Great night that only ended at around five in the morning...
On Saturday we checked out the Brooklyn Bridge, walked around in Manhattan and had dinner in the Hard Rock Cafe together with Danielle (from Holland).


On Sunday we went back to Manhattan but this time together with Georgia and her boyfriend Dave. We walked through Central Park, ate some pizza and hotdogs, had a drink, checked out some of the skyscrapers, went into Grand Central Station and ended up in Central Park again to see the sun go down and listen to some music.



On Monday we had, for as far as I am concerned, the best day in the Big Apple. We headed out early to visit the Statue of Liberty. We were lucky enough that we had great weather and got a ticket to get into the statue itself (its pedestal really, but still...). Pretty sweet to see some of the history of this lady and quite impressive to see how they actually build her. I do think that if you do not obtain one of the passes that actually allows you to get in the statue, the island would be pretty lame...

After this we went to Wall Street and an did extremely quick stop a ground zero (nothing to see anymmore, just construction). For dinner we were supposed to meet Molly (from China) but of course our phone had run out of juice... try to find one person in a city as big as New York!?! We decided to head back to Brooklyn, charge the phone and meet up later. At that point Georgia decided to join us and we ended up in a bar called "Down the Hatch", probably one of the better bars I have ever been in!!! Played some BeerPong with $8 pitchers, grabbed some snacks and had a lot of fun.

The last day Shosh and I did some more essential shopping and left at 13.00 for JFK. Our flight left New York as planned at 17.40 and we arrived in Dublin at 4.45 the next morning. A last flight to Brussels at 7.00 where my parents picked us up and around noon we were "home" in Weert, the Netherlands.
Later that day most of my family came by to say hi and meet Shoshannah. And now we have to unpack and get all our paperwork straight... not the funniest job in the world but something that has to be done.

Toedeledokie,
Ruudje, Shosh & Piggy

Mission Accomplished

4809 miles (7739 km) on my first USA Road Trip!
Not too shabby...

We have done it: we arrived in Chicago on Tuesday afternoon. Our iron steed is still "in optima forma" and we aren't doing too bad ourselves either :-)
But lets go back to where I left off, Memphis. Of course known as the home of "the King", but we were there to visit Shosh's family. So we stayed with her grandmother, aunt and three cousins. The first days we just relaxed, talked, took a dip in the swimming pool, had a couple of beers and so on.
But on Wednesday we had the best day... we went to the Bigfoot Lodge and afterwards to Beale Street. What is the Bigfoot Lodge? Well, nothing extraordinary except that the portions are big (both drinks and food and they serve the biggest hamburger in the world!!! And if you finish it in under an hour it is for free... Far before we even arrived in the US I decided I wanted to do this extremely American thing. So I accepted the challenge and a mere 40 minutes later my Sasquatch Burger arrived!

And you know what I had a hard time finishing almost half of it... haha! The most amazing thing is that one of America's competitive eaters finished that entire thing in 7 min 36 sec.!?! Can you imagine? I had the leftovers for both lunch and dinner the next day. Afterwards we went out for a couple of drinks on Beale Street. It happened to be Wednesday which is biker night, so the entire street was filled with motorcycles, adding to the great atmosphere on this street.

On Friday morning we headed for Atlanta. An easy ride and we arrived at 19.00 at Rodney's place. He lives in Midtown which is a beautiful part of town. Lots of nice eateries, bars, coffeeshops, a big park and so on. Soon after getting there we headed for a couple of bars to catch up on stories and drink a couple of beers. Great night!! The next day Rodney wasn't feeling too well and Shosh and I wanted to explore Atlanta a little. So we went downtown and visited the Dome, the CNN tower, Bicentennial Park and the Coca-Cola Museum. Of course you can do tours in every single one of them, but we aren't that rich so we stuck to buying a combo-ticket for the Coke Museum and the Atlanta Sea Aquarium.



That night we went out for pizza and another drink, but had a relatively quiet evening. The next day Rodney brought Shosh and me to the Aquarium. We spent a good three to four hours in there admiring all of the different fish and other animals. It is a beautiful aquarium and definitely worth a visit. Piggy enjoyed it a lot as well, although at times he was afraid the fish saw him as food...


In the afternoon the three of us went to see the new Batman movie - American Style: So an enormous drink and a huge bucket of popcorn :-)
On Monday we left Rodney and Atlanta and drove halfway to Chicago. It was a long drive (about 400 miles) but we were rewarded with a beautiful campsite at Hardy Lake.
The next day we drove the remaining bit to Chicago and arrived at around 15.00 at Sophie's parent's place (Sophie lived in Kunming with us for the last year). More about Chicago next time! We'll stay here till Friday morning when we'll fly to New York.

Before I say goodbye I have to say one more thing: Thank you very much Collin!!! Without your little, but strong, 1993 Toyota Pickup Truck this trip would have been impossible! Cheers (as you always say...)!

Dat was ie dan weer voor deze keer!
RSP

Route 66 , Cars and Beyond

From the Grand Canyon through the Big Middle via Route 66 & the I40 to Memphis!
It took us 5 whole day and an awful lot of driving but it was totally worth it, especially with the stops with made along the famous Route 66.
We could have driven over the Interstate 40 and than it would have been about 1500 miles of big roads with nothing special to see. But since we decided to get off that road every once in a while we saw a lot of fun things. For me Route 66 is just a name and I don't have any bonding with it. But for many other people it is one of the most important routes of that time. So some research taught me a thing or two and I had a rough guide on where to stop and what to see. For example the "corner in Winslow, Arizona" and the "Jackrabbit Trading Post Sign".

We also drove through the Petrified Forest with its "Painted Desert". Nice views of this amazing countryside.

The first night we camped in the Bluewater Lake State Park. But when we woke up we found out that one of the poles of our brand new tent broke during the night so we again had to go and find a Big 5 Sporting Goods Store to replace the thing... Luckily we were going to Santa Fe and we knew that there was one right there! No hassle, just give the broken one back and pick another.
Then we visited Santa Fe, known for all the art... and there is a lot of it! Not my favorite thing to do, but there also happened to be a carshow and I loved seeing all these cool, old cars. The town itself was nice to see as well ;-)

That night we camped in the Conchas Lake State Park. Again a good campsite where you can put up your tent for just a few bucks.

Later that day we followed several parts of Route 66 and came across some of the best sights. First we saw a ghost town (a place that used to have actual people living in it, but is entirely abandoned now...) and then we came across the Midway Point. From here it is 1139 miles both to Chicago and to Los Angeles. The best part, however, was that the cafe that is there was the model for Flo's V8 Cafe in the animation movie "Cars". Inside we met the woman/girl on whom Tia (from Tia & Mia from Cars) is based (her sister was Mia... I am not kidding you). From her we heard a bunch of stories and learned that the mountains in the background of the movie are shaped like Cadillacs just as the Cadillac Ranch where we would be later. And also that we would be driving past the Cars place "Ramone's House of Body Art", or at least the building after which it was modeled. And of course the famous Wigwam Motel. Check it out below!!!



And like I said, a little later we drove past the Cadillac Ranch an idea of eccentric (and filthy rich) artist Stanley Marsh. Just get a bunch of Cadillacs and bury them halfway in the ground in an open field along Route 66 and have people put graffiti on them.

That night we "checked in" at a campsite in Foss State Park. Only to continue early the next day. the day before we were just too late to get into the Devil's Rope Museum (a.k.a. barbed wire). The stupid timezones keep changing here and it is hard sometimes to figure out in which one you are... Today (Sunday) we wanted to visit the Route 66 museum in Clinton. But since it was Sunday and we are in all Christian Middle America it only opened at 13.00 (while we were there at 10.00). So no museums for us. The good thing is that Piggy felt up to coming along with us again. The evening before he had major surgery and besides a big scar on his back he is good to go again!!!

We had a couple more stops at Route 66 places, such as the restored Philips 66 gas station and some diners, but that's it. The rest of the day it was driving, driving and driving until we came to Ozark National Forest where we would be camping that night.

On Monday we drove the remaining 300 miles to Memphis. No problems, but it got really hot and humid so driving was a little less fun than it used to be... But at around 14.30 we arrived at Shosh's grandma's place and could enjoy the airconditioning! More about our stay in Memphis and Atlanta later!

De groeten uit de VS!
Pigster, Shoshy and Rudi