Seattle and home...

So... we made it to seattle. We weren’t able to access the internet from Glacier (obviously) so we had to stop along the way to use a hotspot. We planned out where we would stay, a trip to church, where to drop off the car etc etc...

After the long trip (10 hours + stop for dinner at a relatively fancy diner in a fairly major town in Washington, which escapes my memory.

We arrived at our campsite... only to find that for some reason it was close... so... motel again. The town inn I think it was called. Not bad, although the screaming and arguing couple came as standard to see us off in the morning.

Our church plans fell through too since it took us forever to clear out the car. I say us, it was mostly Sam! Thanks Sam!

So, we dropped off our bag at baggage storage at the airport (nice idea hey) and drove into downtown Seattle to drop off the car and see the sights. We returned the car without any trouble then headed to the old fish market, wandered along the coast, had a MacDonalds (first of the trip) and eventually ended up at the seattle center to see the spiky tower thing and a few other sights.

We realized at that point that we were tired so decided to find the nearest movie theatre with the assistance of our Sat Nav (now in hand rather than in car). So, we saw Harry Potter... not bad we both thought.

Then, much to our delight there was a nice pub just down the road from our bus stop and we have a few drink then made our way to the airport.

What happened after that is a tired blur. We flew to Texas, then to LaGuardia. We Taxied it to JFK were we hung out until Sam took ANOTHER night flight to the UK...

Thats it... trip over... And hopefully Sam has had a good sleep since he got home!

Seattle and home...

coming soon...

Glad to go to Glacier

By this point its clear we won’t make it up to Vancouver. The question is, should we go to Glacier National Park? This would be quite a big detour from a straight trip to Seattle and would mean 6/7 hours on the road today and about 10 tomorrow. I ask that question knowing already that we decided to go... and were very glad we did.

We both agreed that the most stunning scenery we’ve seen is at Glacier. Yellowstone is definitely and freak-show of nature in some sense, Glacier is just plain old majesty.

We tried to get as far through the park on the ‘drive-to-the-sun’ road after pitching our tent in the campsite near the west entrance at around 4pm. We got a fairly long way through. We would have gotten further but we decided to stop to take in the sights of the ‘hidden lake trail’ Once again, in retrospect... a very good decision indeed.

The walk took us gradually up one side of a mountain where we experienced everything from blazing summer sun, to gentle breezes to quite a bit of trudging through snow (which felt surreal!) The walk ended with a beautiful view of a hidden lake (unsurprisingly), which sits between two of the peaks. The views were absolutely stunning! On top of this we also saw some mountain goats and a beaver-like thing (which I took a close up photo of).

By the time evening came we were glad we’d picked up some ‘pasta sides’ from the general store and headed back down the campsite via the intrepid mountain pass...

The campstove we have seemed pretty LOUD to be cooking at 11 at night in a fairly quite (bar snoring) camp site but we went for it anyway and no one complained.

Tomorrow... the big ride to seattle!

Motel in Montana

Having set out quite late from Yellowstone we had planned to find a campsite with the assistance of our Sat Nav (the previous experience had not put us off the idea).

So... we drove about 2 hours back up to the big interstate (i90- pretty much runs all the way across the country pretty) and asked TomTom to look for campsites. This time he found a big field for us behind someone’s backyard!

Nevermind!

So... we ended up staying in the rainbow motel. Not bad and a very sugary and tasty donut selection was on offer for breakfast.

Yellowstone!! Bears, Bison and Bubbling Boiling Springs

Yellowstone is the freak show of nature.

Basically it is the world’s largest active volcano - but it’s mostly covered up by the ground. Wherever there is a gap in the ground there seems to be something slightly bizarre. Each different area in the park made its unique contribution to the freak show. There were bubbling pools of boiling mud. Caves with steam billowing from them. Whole hills with steam rising from them. There were all sorts of pools - some smelt of sulphur, some were bright green, others blue, or clear, or one that was ‘prismatic’ (it had all the colours of the rainbow). There was a boiling stream. There were geysers - big ones too. Each spot seemed to have won some record at the hot springs olympics - the world’s tallest geyser, the world’s tallest acidic geyser, the world’s largest ‘predictably firing’ geyser, the world’s highest concentration of hot springs (over 10, 000). We visited Old Faithful - the geyser that fires at predictable intervals. We took our seats with 100s of others, cameras at the ready, waiting for him to fire up. And erupt he did - 30 ft in the air.

But there is more to Yellowstone than the freak shows of nature. Most of the park is forest. A guide told us (or at least a group of people where we were earwigging) that the seeds inside the cones of the trees do not come out until they are burnt in fire. The life-cycle of the tree from seed to full grown to being dead to falling over to rotting is the same as the interval between major forest fires. ‘Funny that’ our guide commented. Just when the trees need to have new ones grow a fire comes along. The last major fire wiped out one third of the trees and twenty years on there are lots of new little trees taking the place of the old - and no replanting was done by man.

There are plenty of animals too. We had to slow down a few times because a bison was walking in the road. There were deer and elk in the area too. The best bit though was when we’d taken a detour to the nearby Tetons National Park. A brown bear jumped out into the road and walked along in front of us for a minute. We got a clear view from 12 feet away (safely inside the car). Our trip in the parks now felt complete.

We had travelled along every mile of road possible in the park and then left and made our way out to the wilds of Montana.

Christian Hospitality and Wyoming

Our entry on our trip to Minneapolis was brief... this was due to a a slight technical difficulty which meant I couldn’t complete it... if I had, what I would have said is this:

At the service at Bethlehem a series of Church picnics were announced. The aim of these is to bring a large church family into closer fellowship. Sam and I saw a slightly different possibility- the possibility of free lunch and some good Christian fellowship. Of course, the fellowship matter more than the food (?) So, we took directions and ended up in a park with a number of families, many of whom were just leaving to put their kids to bed- yet a few people remained and we got chatting. They were really excited to have two road trippers on board.

Anyway, there turned out to be a few signs of providence in the fact we went to that picnic. For a start, Sam had commented about how he knew only 3 people who had ever been to visit that church - they’d been to a kids work conference. It turned out that one of the people at the picnic had been involved in running this conference and knew them. The next providential link is why I am writing this post now and not then...

One of the guys there, Eric, said he had an aunt who lived in Buffalo WY which was very much on our route and very much a place we could stop given the mileage etc. So... he took my number and arranged for her to put us up for the night.

So, Tuesday evening... after we’d driven for a while and seen the likes of Mount Rushmore, the Devils Tower (famous from such films as ‘close encounters’) and a few other sights... we spent the night at Eric’s Aunt Linda’s. Not only that but she prepared a very tasty breakfast for us. Since we had not showered for a couple of days this was a real treat- a real bed, a real shower, real food... ahhhh!

It is also an awesome illustration of the kind of hospitality Jesus called for when he said, ‘whatever you do for the least of these my brothers you did for me.’ i.e. the hospitality extended to us simply because of our common allegiance to Christ (we are his brothers) is kindness done for Christ himself.

It was also great to chat with a real Westerner about what life and the church scene is like over there.

Wyoming is a beautiful state, though largely uninhabited (400,000ish I think). Tomorrow hold more of its delights... Yellowstone National Park.

Storm in the Badlands

Why does no one speak of The Badlands? Its scenery is beautiful with Grand Canyon-like rock formations and wide open praries in between. The sky there is very big. As I looked out across one of the planes in the bright, hot, sunshine, with cloudless skies, I commented to Mark, ‘wouldn’t it be amazing to see a big storm come rolling across these planes?’

It was.

As the sun was setting dark clouds gathered across the skies and nature’s light show began. The forks of lightening shattered the skies and lit up the dark clouds whilst the sun looked blood red on the horizon. The thunder rumbled and clapped loudly. We watched it from by our tent - in a lovely open campsite in the centre of the Badlands. Then the heavens opened above us with proper rain. The wind blew strong. The tent had to be anchored firmly to stop it from leaving the site and heading across the wasteland. The car gave us the shelter we needed.

As the rain stopped we went to bed - but the light show continued for hours as the storm made its way to the horizon.

It all made me think of Revelation. Revelation chapter 4 has a vision of the throne room of God with imagery used to capture the awesome majesty of God. It says there that thunder and lightning came from the throne. The Badlands storm has now given me a greater appreciation of the weight of that imagery. Our Creator is powerful and his creation is beautiful.

The horns

Traveling across Minnesota to the South Dakota boarder and some more camping we drove alongside a railroad. The tracks go for miles with not a train in site. Then we saw one. It was quite a site. It had over 125 carriages! - I counted them. That is some train. And it had a horn that made a noise like you wouldn’t believe as it approached every road in its track. No one would get in the way of this train.

By now it was getting late and we needed a place to stay for the night. This time a nice blue sign appeared on an otherwise empty road pointing us to camping. But we didn’t see a campsite. In fact we didn’t see very much at all. Mark asked some yokels about the ‘campsite’ and they told us where it was. This campsite is unusual. It has no signs to say it’s a campsite. The only evidence of it being a campsite is a tap and some grass. It was located next to the railroad track. We pitched the tent, had some food, and settled in for the night.

At 3am we had our first train. There must have been about three roads nearby that crossed the track. Each one received the full horn treatment. The train must have been a long one too as it rattled by.

Our second train came at 3.30. The horn did its business again. The train rumbled by.

4am and the horns sounded once more - and so on through the night. Once daylight came we didn’t see another train.

One has to wonder if there has been a recent spate of people stopping their cars on railroad tracks in the middle of the night. The train drivers are certainly wise to the possibility. I wonder too if it is mainly deaf people who leave their cars parked so precariously in the middle of the night. The train drivers must think so. Still, it is better to be safe rather than sorry.

We left our $10 in an honesty box (there were no signs to say so but two locals separately had told us that this is how it worked) and made our way to Interstate 90 - probably the longest straight road in the whole world.

American Wildlife

Some might think that doing a road trip means that we miss out on seeing the varied wildlife that the great American outdoors has to offer. However such thinking would be mistaken. If you keep an eagle eye out on the roadside it is amazing what creatures you can see. We have seen deer, possoms, rabbits, porcupines, little prarie rat type things, and more. Admittedly some might call these creatures roadkill - but we have seen them. Some creatures are a little hard to identify for the tyre mark running right through them so it’s possible that we might even have seen some rare animals. I’m looking forward to seeing moose or bison - but not if it damages the car. S.

Oh little town of Bethlehem

Sunday Morning: 8th July 2007

After a VERY sugary breakfast in the motel and a sat nav assisted trip to purchase a razor since I forgot to pack mine...

We worshipped the Lord with the downtown congregation of Bethlehem Baptism Church, Minneapolis, MN.

This was a very encouraging a uplifting time.

The Big Drive and my first speeding ticket!

On Saturday it occurred to us that we had planned to be at Bethlehem Baptism Church in Minneapolis MN on Sunday morning (no legal note required here).

This meant a grueling drive since we decided to go north and over the top of lake Michigan (more scenic). It was estimated at anything ranging from 10 hours (lady at camping ground) to 15 (sat nav) so I set out with my foot to the floor.

We made very good time. I sharpened my overtaking skills and to be honest was driving like a mad-man. A safe mad-man, but a madman none the less. This is until the sight of flashing lights and the sound of glaring horns brought us to a swift stop. I had been caught.

There is a spiritual lesson in this about how we think we’re getting away with ignoring God and his authority but will be exposed on the Last Day when we stand before God... but for now, the more pressing tale...

I got my first speeding ticket. The officer was kind enough to reduced it down to $100 for me since my license was clean (would have been $140). I called up earlier to pay the fine... the downside is that in MI they take your drivers license as a bond so I currently only have a speeding ticket to prove I’m licensed.

From that point on, Sam and I decided to stick to the speed limits. This felt tedious at first 55mph is slllllooooowwwww. But we put on some Norah Jones and Jack Johnson and we soon chilled out and the whole thing is far more relaxed. We also noticed that our fuel economy rocketed up so we get more miles for our money... woo hoo! Anyway, the I-90 has a 75 limit for most of the way across South Dakota so we’ll be happy with that.

We decided to stay in a Motel after the long drive in order to recoup and also to help us look spiffy for church in the morning.

M

Grand Rapids...

So... Grand Rapids...

In Grand Rapids we saw: Mars Hill church, home of Rob Bell’s ministry and the Nooma DVD’s. Just a quick legal note: the authors of this blog do not endorse or deny the theological standpoint of the leaders of church locations visited.

By far the most depressing thing we have done since we headed out was visit a Christian book store in Grand Rapids. We hope not, but fear that the selection of books may have been an indication of the shallowness of much of what goes for Christianity in the States. The theology section was a single two foot shelf amid several miles of selves, there was not a single Bible commentary, they were passionate promoters of the previously mentioned Nooma DVD selection (see legal note). We were encouraged however that we could robe our choir from the store if need be.

We decided to roll with the camping thing so after stopping of at Panera for a salad and/or sandwich and using t’internet to find a suitable site further up into Michigan. In the end we stayed at a lovely site just outside the town Cadillac. We tried out the camping stoke for the first time and had a cup of hot tea and spanish rice by a local lake... as the beautiful sunset glimmered on the clam glassy still water... ahhhh!

Just wait for the next day...

Our first camping experience

Yesterday...

Took the road along the ‘coast’ of lake ontario and visited Youngstown very briefly, on the way to Niagara Falls.

Niagara falls was pretty good. We were only there for about 2 1/2 hours. Both of us decided that the view of the rapids from three sisters islands was actually more awe inspiring than the falls themselves- not that they weren’t amazing.

Sooner or later we will put some photo’s up here. To be honest there are loads of things we haven’t caught on camera because neither of us big camera people- even tho I bought a new one for the trip.

So... yesterday was our first experience of camping since we hit the road. Oh yes... before that, we went to Buffalo, and to Cleveland (where we ate at a nice diner called Tommy’s- Sam had his first american burger and I had some weird falafel thing that was very very tasty)

So... the camping. We entrusted ourselves to the sat nav again. We hit the road from Cleveland and looked for campsites en route to Detroit. There was supposedly one a little way outside Cleveland and we were both tired and it was late. We went for it. Having followed the ‘turn left’ ‘turn right’ etc we thought we’d been fooled again as we ‘had reached our destination’ and there was nothing but a florists and a barn. But we turned round and drove past more slowly onto to find ‘camp wa-hoo’... sounds amazing doesn’t it. In fact the sign said ‘the wahoo tavern’ with ‘camping ground’ written in small underneath.

The tavern was awesome. I wish I’d taken a photo. It was classic... a few locals playing pool with the barmaid, stuffed bears, a couple of sketchy looking americans drinking Bud. I felt a little out of place.

Anyway, we got our pitch and set up the tent in the illumination of the headlights (it was 1030). We got to bed by 11.

Luckily they had a washroom so we don’t smell today. Altogether a good night for $15 I’d say.

Now we’re back on the road heading toward Grand Rapids, MI. We decided to give Detroit a miss a everyone told us it was a waste of space (sorry if you like it!) Grand Rapids is of interest because of its fame for Christian publishing. From here we will head north a little and find more camping or a cheap motel.

Its a beautifully sunny day today. We’ve hot quite a lot of rain, but the rain cleared once we got the Niagara Falls and it turned glorious. Today its even nicer... I guess since we are heading west a south a bit this is what we’d expect. On top of that the gas is getting cheaper so PTL!

Signing off
M

Rochacha

We decided to give Ottawa a miss and hit the road back to the states for 4th July. Surprisingly good traffic considering!

We spent yesterday evening in Brockport NY, just outside Rochester. I have a friend from church who’s Mum lives here so the camping was postponed once again!

Given it was 4th July we decided to drive down to Rochester with my friends Mum and see the fireworks. It was a pretty good show. The highlight was the really bizarre sound the echo made against the city buildings. It sounded like a) a donkey b) someone scratching a record a la 1980s rap.

Today... we have quite a few stops along the coast of lake Erie inc Cleveland OH.

We should end up just a little further than Detroit by sundown (and hopefully at our campsite- we know it exists this time!)

M

The campsite that didn't exist

So... we’re taking this road trip 21st century style: with a blog and with satellite navigation!

The sat nav is very very very useful, but...

On Tuesday night we asked it to look for a nearby campsite. 15 miles it told us, slightly off our route but we decided to go for it anyway. That was a mistake! 25 minutes later we found ourselves being told to ‘take the next left’ only to find the locked gates of a land-fill site!

We didn’t despair however. The sat nav can re-route you and since we were still a mile away we figured it must be behind the landfill or something. So... the reroute took 10 more mins (note...it was 11pm at this point). This time we found ourselves being asked to take the next left into a dirt track... the distinct lack of any sign of a campsite made us a little suspicious but we took the road anyway, until it narrowed and we gave up, only to drive back to the motel we passed and spend the night in veritable comfort. Oh well!

M

Boarder Control

Canada is not America. It is like France. The scenery changed as soon as the boarder was crossed. Gone are the hills and instead there are fields of flatness as far as the eye can see. Mark did a good job at shmoozing with the customs bod. We could have had a car filled with tobacco, alcohol, and fire arms and we would have still have been let in.

Burlington, VT -> Montreal

Vermont. We think it’s probably French for green hill. And there are loads of green hills covered with trees everywhere - it’s beautiful. We’ve been to Montpellier, Burlington, and more impressively to the home of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. (A vanilla and chocolate soft cone was very tasty). Although unfortunately we did not visit Vermont’s ‘World Famous’ granite quarries - some local men with tattoos recommended them but we can’t do everything. We are doing this trip 21st century style with GPS navigation, iPod, wireless internet - it’s amazing how many gadgets Mark can hook up from a car’s cigarette lighter. We’re now on the road to Canada inn the bright sunshine listening to a Christian radio station (the third we’ve found so far). S.

First day

I picked Sam up from JFK at around noon. We drove back to greenwich, hung out at my place a while than go lunch at Pizza Factory.

By about 4pm we set off for St Johnsbury, VT where our journey begins this morning.

Today... the plan is... Ben and Jerry's factory, a few other stops... then Montreal.

We'll spend th afternoon there then head to ottawa in the evening...

I feel sorry for sam since he was up for 24 hours yesterday!!! I think I'll take pitty by doing most of the driving today...

BTW if we die of food poisening its because we ate reheated Pizza for breakfast!

M and S