the next day was a 4 hour drive to santa few new mexico from amarillo. we got up around 8am and my friend said he wanted to get breakfast because surprise, surprise, he was hungry......again. we walked around a little and found a dennys restaurant which served breakfasts. i ordered a glass of orange juice, which was my normal breakfast. my friend ordered his normal breakfast which was a 3 egg omellete with peppers, hash browns, 2 slices of toast and a glass of orange juice. i felt full just watching him eat all that.
we got into santa fe around 2pm and after checking into the hotel my friend said he was hungry...again. we found an indian restaurant and headed in. i ordered a main course of chicken and rice and then after a being a little rude with the waiters in the restaurant my friend ordered a starter, 2 main courses and a side dish. i know he self conscious when they bought all the food over to our table, and all this from someone who constantly talked about losing weight and his fitness regime and how much running he did and how often he worked out. it was all bullshit. if you saw him on the street you would just think he was a slob who had never been near a gym let alone the 6 times a week fitness junkie he proffessed to be.
when his food came out it took the waiter 2 trips to bring everything out, and those waiters can do the thing where they hold a plate in each hand and balance one on their forearms. it looked ridiculous the amount of food he ordered. a couple of minutes later he called the waiter over and asked for a diet pepsi. DIET pepsi. why?, because you are concerned about your diet?. you must be joking. a clear case of someone fooling themselves. anyway the waiter brings the pepsi over and after a few sips he says to me "i think this is regular full pepsi and not diet". looking at the mountain of food in front of him i said "dude, i don't think its going to make much difference if its diet or not". he gave me a stern look and carried on stuffing his face.
anyways, fueled up with his mammoth lunch we headed out into the town of santa fe, which is a quaint little market town, though completely over run by bus loads of tourists. shit, i can't complain about too many tourists because i was a tourist myself, but i bet its much nicer out of season in the spring or fall when its not so crowded. still it was a very nice town and had almost a southern european feel to it. we went into a really nice church that looked very old and thats where i took some pics.
from memphis we decided to have a long day of driving and make some time for ourselves on the west coast by driving about 11 hours through arkansas, oklahoma and part of texas. there wasn't anything i really was desperate to see in those states and i would rather have an extra day or two in california. i did see a couple of bad accidents during my drive as well. they were both pretty recent as we passed because it looked like the police and ambulance crews had just got there and traffic had just started to back up on the opposite carriageway. one of the accidents was a big truck that had overturned in the central reservation and the other was an SUV that looked like it had flipped over judging by the damage and dents to the top part of the windscreen and roof. they both looked pretty bad accidents and it makes you drive a little more carefully.
after about 6 hours whilst passing through oklahoma i suggested stopping and trying to get tickets for NIN who were playing that night. like i mentioned before, my friend was less that receptive to the idea. i even suggested he take the car and leave me in oklahoma city and i would meet him santa fe, new mexico in a couple of days and the thought of getting rid of him for a couple of days sounded very appealing. he didn't want to carry on on his own and seeing as i couldn't ditch him i knew he would just be hanging round in a bad mood if we did stop and seeing as i saw them a couple of days before, i decided to give it a pass.
i did most of the driving on this day as my friend said he was tired from his 800 mile detour to st louis. unlike him, i kept myself with in 10 mph of the speed limit and was in no danger of getting pulled over by five-O even if i did come across any.
he did get upset at one point when i noticed we were low on gas and the warning light came on. i told him that if a gas station didn't appear quite soon in the next 20 miles, we would be having a nice walking tour of texas. he kept going on and on about why i had let it go so low and it annoyed him even more when i said that after driving for 7 hours i was hoping we wouldn't get to a gas station and i was actually looking forward to a nice long walk on a sunny afternoon in texas. he didn't like me saying that at all. i said it as a joke but some people don't seem to like that kind of humour. jeez!, whats the worst that could happen?. we ran out of fuel. so what!. it not a big deal.
like i said before we kind of ran out of conversation somwhere around new jersey, about 1500 miles ago. with my other friends we usually talk about football, but my friend said he didn't want to to talk about football. he actually said "i don't want to talk about football", when i started to say something about the new season coming up. how can you not want to talk about football???.
with my friends we also talk about bands and music but seeing as my friend only discovered radiohead about 18 months ago, that was a non starter as well. to make matters worse on his mix cds he had also put on songs from abba and diana ross. what the fuck!!!. 2 guys in a car in texas listening to dancing queen by abba. they'll think we are a couple of queers and we'll be hanging from the lamp posts by sun down. anyways that was the music conversation scuppered.
one other thing my other friends do is just sit around making fun of each other. its just harmless banter and a little childish but it can be quite funny. i tried this in washington earlier on this trip and he just didn't realise i was joking and he had a stern, stony expression on his face. it all started when the valet at the hotel asked me where i was from and i said london. he then asked my friend where he was from and he replied london and then the valet asked how long he had lived there and how long he had been speaking english. i just burst out laughing at that point and just started making fun of him. you see the thing is that since being in the states my friend had decided to put on a fake half-english, half american accent when talking to people, but it just sounded like a messed up accent from nowhere in particular and thats why the guy looked surprised when he said he was from london, because it was most definitely not a london or english accent.
i told the valet that my friend was a refugee from eastern europe and that he had come to england on a boat in the middle of the night, about 3 years ago, and that at the time he couldn't speak a word of english but that he had made remarkable progress since then. my friend was not happy. me and the valet guy were laughing our heads off. the valet guy who was from pakistan and had been in the states for 2 years could pick up from my tone that i was just making fun and taking the piss. my friend born and bred in london didn't pick up on that and looked very serious. there was going to be a carbon copy of this incident later in the trip that amused me a great deal again and left my friend scowling. ha ha ha!!.
that was it really for that day. we got to amarillo, texas in the evening, found a motel and rested up after a long day on the road.
obviously one of the main reasons for going to memphis was to go visit graceland, elvis presley's house. we got there around 10.30am and went on the tour and were there till around 3pm. most of that time was spent going round the various gift stores as my friend bought as much cheap plastic elvis crap as he could. i didn't complain though because actually for the first time in the trip he had actually shown some enthusiasm to see something and he also hadn't mentioned getting food for the first time on the trip. i thought maybe this would be the attitude he would have for the rest of the trip and other places we would visit. i would be wrong, but at the time i was hopeful.
also by chance we found out that it was elvis week in memphis and that there was the final of the official elvis impersonators competition that evening. they were going to pick the best elvis from a final 10. we headed into town, got something to eat and then headed to the theatre where the competition was on and got tickets.
that evening we went to the show and it was good entertainment. there were lots of people there and quite a lot of people from abroad. there was a particularly hysterical group of japanese women in front of us who were supporting one of the contestants in particular. thet were going absolutely nuts for him every time he came on stage. it was very funny.
after that we headed back into town and ended up going back to the hotel. i did suggest going for a drink on beale street but my friend didn't want to. he said he didn't want to have a hangover. i suggested he don't get too drunk and only have a couple or even stick to sodas and fruit juice but he said he didn't want to do that. i don't drink at all but it would have been nice to go to a bar and listen to a band play or meet some of the locals. my friend was not interested in that. strangely enough he has a reputation as a bit of a party animal when he is here in london but he just didn't want to go out late in the evenings at all on our trip. it seems some people are unable to go out and not get shitfaced every time. my suggestion of just a couple of drinks seemed absurd. i think my friend is turning into a miserable old git.
i got the greyhound bus from knoxville to memphis. had never taken a greyhound bus and so it was a new experience for me. the bus station in knoxville was about a 20 minute walk from my hotel and i had my big heavy bag with me. i was cursing my friend as i walked in the hot tennesse morning but i got there eventually and it wasn't in the best part of town. it was to be an 8 hour trip to memphis with a couple of stops on the way in nashville and jackson.
there were lots of diverse characters as i stepped onto the bus and i tried to pick a spare seat beside someone who didn't look like they might be an axe murderer. i ended up sitting next to a guy who was travelling from somewhere in virginia to phoenix to go to a new school to study animation and graphic design. i have friends who do that kind of thing and so it was good to have someone to talk to and make the journey a little less boring.
i also texted my friend who had gone to st louis and told him what time i would arrive and the address of the bus station that i would be arriving at in memphis, and to let him know to pick me up there at 5.30pm. the hotel i had booked was about 14 miles out of town and the least he could do was pick me up and take me to the hotel seeing as he had the car and would be passing through.
just before my bus got to memphis he texted me back saying he was still a couple of hours away from memphis and that i should get a cab to the hotel. i couldn't believe he was pulling this shit. its a 4 hour drive from st louis whilst i had an 8 hour bus journey and he still couldn't make it there before me and was telling me to take a fucking cab??!!. i replied that i would be in town getting a something to eat and that he should pick me up. fucking asshole!!. there is taking the piss and then there is taking the piss after you have already taken the piss. this was that.
i found a nice bar on beale street called rum boogie and got a seat at the bar and ordered a delicious burger and watched the ballgame on tv and had a nice chat with a couple of people sitting at the bar and the lady who worked there. thoroughly nice people unlike my humourless, unpunctual, fat-ass of a friend.
i know it sounds harsh but i was very angry with him. i would have loved to have seen his reaction if i had decided to take the car for a couple of days and made him make his own way to the next city on his own by bus. actually a couple of days later i suggested making an unsheduled stop in oklahoma city as we passed through it (to see nine inch nails again) and he was clearly put out at the thought of it and kept asking why? and what for?. i didn't end up doing it but he was less than accomadating and receptive to the idea. i didn't put up much resistance to his idea of going st louis so it was quite surprising how he reacted to my proposed change of plan which involved no extra driving or a detour. a bit selfish i thought.
after a couple of hours my friend turned up at rum boogie, ordered some food as i think it may have been a couple of hours since he had last had food, and off we drove to the hotel.
that day i had mostly been listening to........people
i had a spare ticket for that evenings show so as i was checking into the hotel i asked the girl behind the counter if she like nine inch nails. she said she was a big fan and i told her she could have the ticket if she wanted it. she said thanks and said she wanted to go. as the tickets were at the will-call counter at the civic auditorium, i got her number from her and told her i would meet her outside the venue at 7.30pm. she said that was fine but we found out when she tried to text me from her phone, that she couldn't because it was an international number.
at around 7pm i picked up the tickets and texted her to let her know i was waiting outside. a few minutes later i got a call on my phone. it turned out to be her mum and she said that sam, the girl that was supposed to meet me, had a car accident and she had called her and had asked her to call me and let me know she wouldn't be able to make it. i asked if she was ok and her mum said she was shaken up but no injuries. part of me kind of thought maybe she just didn't want to come to the show with me, but you never know.
i went to the show on my own and it was incredible. the best concert i have ever been to. NIN always play well but this time they had added a very elaborate and complex stage show and it was mind-blowingly good. if they play in london i will definitely go again. at around 10.30 pm i got a text from my friend saying he was 50 miles from st louis, having been on the road for 6 and half hours. what an idiot!. actually i am glad he didn't come otherwise i wouldn't have met sam and also the ticket would have been wasted on someone who likes amy fucking winehouse.
the next morning i came downstairs to the lobby and sam was there. she made a sad face and asked me how the show was. i told her it wasn't very good and she didn't miss much. she then told me the story of what happened and she said that she hit a car as she was leaving the parking lot after she finished work. she said that her car was pretty beat up and that she tried calling me and texting me but that she just couldn't get through and that she called her mum who was at work and could call internation to let me know. she then said she just went home and cried because she was missing the show and was so upset. she seemed very genuine about the whole account of things. i told her that the spare ticket was cursed after my friend didn't want it even though i bought him it, and then she didn't get to use it because she had a car accident right after i offered it to her.
we said our goodbyes and then i headed off to the bus station to get a greyhound bus to memphis.
the next morning we left washington dc and headed out towards salem virginia. we didn't have a particular reason for going there apart from the fact that it was about halfway to knoxville tennessee and thats where we had to be the following day because i had tickets for nine inch nails.
a nice drive through forest covered mountains and we arrived in salem around 3 pm and checked into our hotel. i needed to do some shopping so we went to a mall and then we got something to eat in downtown salem at franks pizza, which was absolutely delicous. that was it really.
the next morning we headed out towards knoxville, tennessee and i wanted to get there in good time because i had 2 tickets for nine inch nails that evening. we were still in virginia and driving to tennesse when my friend asks me how far it was to st louis, missouri. i didn't know exactly because believe it or not, i didn't have googlemaps downloaded into my brain, but i told him it was probably a few hundred miles. why?. it was then he told me he was going to go to st louis and meet one of his friends for a drink. "we have tickets for nine inch nails tonight" (which i paid for) i told him, to which he replied he didn't want to see them and wanted to go to st louis.
a little stunned i tried to convince him that st louis was far far away and it would take him half a day to get there and it wouldn't be worth going driving so far but he stubbornly refused to listen to my reasoning and then said he wanted the car and was going to drive there no matter how far it was. oh great, not only are you changing the route that we agreed to a month before the trip but you now want to take the car as well. i could have dug my heels in and said that because i had paid for half the cost of the rental car i could veto his plan because it was not what i wanted to do, but rather than have an argument on our 2nd day i said, fuck it, just drop me off in knoxville and do what you want. although i didn't show it, i was incandescent with anger.
i had estimated it was around 400 miles to st louis from knoxville and because of that my friend who was driving, decided to put his foot down to make up time. about 20 minutes later the inevitable happened and he shot past a police car whilst doing 83mph in a 65mph zone. there was a minute or two of wondering if he had been spotted but then the flashing blue lights appeared and we got pulled over. ha!, Good!!!, i thought. that will learn you for stitching up your mates. the officer came over, gave him a ticket which was a $100 fine, and off we went.
we arrived in knoxville around 2.30pm and we found out from the GPS that St Louis was 498 miles from knoxville. that was even further than i originally thought. my friends face sank when he saw how far it was, but instead of listening to reason he stubbornly stuck to his st louis folly.
the hotel i originally planned to stay in was about 15 miles from the civic auditorium, where NIN were playing, and because i would have no car, i had to find another hotel closer to town so that i could walk to and from the concert. we went to a couple of places but they were pretty expensive but i eventually found a decent hotel for a reasonable price. my friend asked me what the plan was for tomorrow, when we originally planned to drive to memphis. slightly embarressed by the stupidity of what he was doing, he suggested driving back to knoxville (498 miles) and picking me up and then driving to memphis which was around 500 miles. 1,000 miles driving in a day. another great plan shithead!. i told him not to bother and i would make my own way to memphis and see him the following evening. to be honest i didn't want to see his face for a while after pulling a stunt like this, though i wasn't sure how i would get to memphis.
just for the record let me add that i knew he had a friend in st louis and during the planning of the route in the weeks before the trip, i asked him if he wanted to make a stop in st louis, to which he said no. it was for this reason i was extra mad. also let me state that if this were ' a drink with a friend' that would end up in sex, i would have been a bit more understanding. far be it for me to deny someone getting some ass, but the person he was going to see was married and has 3 kids and i know for a fact that it was definitely not going to be that kind of 'drink'.
that day i had mostly been listening to interpol - hands away.
so the first part of our trip was to be a 4 hour drive to washington dc. we went to newark airport and picked up our hire car which was a pontiac g6 coupe with shiny wheels. it was quite a nice car and a bit of a result. my friend took the wheel and after a few wrong turns courtesy of the GPS telling us to go the wrong way up one way streets (i think the maps may have been a little old) off we went. we had both made cds to listen to in the car and as my friend was driving he got first pick and we put one of his cds in. it started off ok with some ash and stereophonics and the killers but then it went downhill badly when some jazzy lounge music came on. what's this?. i asked thats amy winehouse, her album is really good, he replied. oh dear. i hate amy winehouse and her retro mock r'n'b soul jazz type of music. its complete shit and completely unoriginal. she's basically a karaoke singer. its the type of thing that should be played in lifts or whilst you are waiting for a double espresso in starbucks. its not proper music and she is way overrated. i didn't say anything and just sat there with the expression of someone listening to nails being dragged down a blackboard, wishing for the cd to be over. i didn't know it at the time but it was about to get musically much worse later on in the trip.
about halfway to washington we ran into a really heavy thunderstorm and decided to pull into a service station and wait for it to pass. a half hour later it was all gone and off we went. we arrived in washington at around 5 pm and checked into our hotel. i then suggested we go out and see some of the sites as we were only there that day and besides, it was a lovely sunny evening for a walk. my friend somewhat surprisingly reluctantly agreed.
we walked along pennsylvania avenue to the white house and then through the park to the national mall. we had walked about 30 minutes till then. i then saw the lincoln memorial and said we should go see that but my friend said he wasn't going to go. eh????. we are in washington dc and you don't want to go the lincoln memorial which is just a 20 minute walk away???. no! he replied. thats cool, i said, see you in around an hour. i left him sat there and headed off. i was surprised at his lack of curiousity and enthusiasm for seeing sites and began to wonder why he had even bothered coming. maybe he would get better and more into seeing stuff later on in the trip, i thought.
the lincoln memorial turned out to be wicked and i took lots and lots of pics. when i returned to where he was sat waiting for me, he seemed in a bit of a mood. turns out he was hungry and wanted to get something to eat. i nearly mentioned walking up to capitol hill but he didn't look too happy so decided not to suggest it and i took a few pics from a distance. we went and walked back towards our hotel in georgetown and we found a nice thai restaurant and ate there that night.
am back home in grey london town after my 3 week coast to coast trip across the united states. it was a great experience and i really didn't want to leave southern california at the end. i will try and document where i went and what happened as best as i can over the next few posts. i think it might be a bit long to do in one go.
my trip started in new york where i stayed for 3 days before my friend came out to join me. i have been to new york lots of times and my uncle lives there so its a nice and familiar place for me to start. the weather was hot and sunny everyday which was a nice change from the showers and grey weather we had been having in london. the days i was on my own i went to the cinema and did some shopping and sat in park and did some reading. nothing really to exciting but very relaxing.
my friend came out on august 9th and i met him in manhattan and we headed out to williamsburg in brooklyn to get something to eat. i really like that part of new york and first went a few years ago. its quite trendy and there are lots of weird people hanging out there. its got a nice atmosphere though i think it won't last as big developments aimed at young proffessionals from madison avenue and wall street are looking more common. i think it will lose its left field, hippy, arty soul in a few years if it hasn't already done so. get there now of you have the chance.
anyways my friend is someone i used to work with a few years back in one of my first jobs and we have kept in touch and meet up about once a month. i thought i knew him quite well and although another friend was due to come on the trip, but dropped out, i thought it would be fine for the next couple of weeks of driving. a couple of things things happened that day that would be harbingers for the future. first, he was desperate to get some food and he was almost panicked to get something to eat. i mean his mood seemed a little off till he ate and then he was ok. second thing was he had no idea of where anything was or what there was to do. he had done no research into any town or city were going to visit. i had come up with a route plan and shown it to him a few weeks earlier and he said he was fine with it. it looked like it would be up to me to lead the way.
that day i had mostly been listening to james - waltzing along
its the final part of my journey and have been in san diego, california for the last couple of days. its a beautiful city. planning to stay here for one possible 2 more days before heading up to LA and then flying back to grey london. will post plently of pics when i get back to blighty in a few days, but till then i will be mostly chilling at pacific beach or mission beach.
got to new york a couple of days ago. have been out and about in the city the last couple of days. it has been lovely warm sunny weather and i heard from a friend of mine in london and he said the weather was rainy and depressing. felt a little better than i already do, and i felt pretty good already.
my friend who is driving cross country with me is flying in to new york tomorrow morning. will meet up in the afternoon and then probably head out to williamsburg in brooklyn as he has not been to that part of new york before. we pick up the hire car sunday lunchtime and drive to washingon dc....well thats the plan.
i like new york and its even nicer this time of year when its hot and sunny. have been here when its been grey and cold and its not nearly as good then.....and not only because girls are wearing shorter skirts and are looking lovely and tanned this time of year.
this is my 12th or 13th visit to this city and i still really like it. i never get bored of this city. even when i am doing nothing in particular i just enjoy watching people and life in the city. you can't be bored here in the summer. its impossible.
today i have mostly been listening to richard ashcroft - new york
have been off work for just over a week now and its been good. i thought i would have been bored out of my head but i think it speaks volumes about how boring my job was that sitting round the house doing not much has seemed less boring and the last week has gone pretty fast.
i played football for the first time in around a month last thursday night and it was good to get out there after a long time not playing.
will pack tomorrow for my trip and then i am away on wednesday for 3 whole weeks. thats one adventure and it will be another adventure when i return and get myself back into a contract somewhere, wherever it maybe. at this moment i feel good about it.
i doubt i will blog whilst i am on the road. we shall see, but i don't think it will happen. am thinking i might keep a written diary of my trip as i will be able to write that whilst i am in the car. i am not taking my laptop with me because its just one more thing to lug around and one more thing that could break or get lost. i don't mind losing my toothbrush or my shampoo but i really don't want to risk my laptop. anyways, if i write it all down it could be my version of che guevara's motorcycle diaries, which he wrote as he travelled through south america. mine can be called the pontiac diaries, as i think thats what our hire car is.
thats all for now. there may not be a post till the end of august.....or there might be.
take care my friend. see you in 2 weeks in the desert heat.
today i have mostly been listening to Interpol - Obstacle 1. its from their fantastically good debut album, turn on the bright lights. it will be one of the songs i will be listening to on the road in america.
