Two Beers and a Pretzel

Oddly, ‘Going Home’ is the name of one of my favorite movement’s of Dvorak’s New World Symphony (no 9).

Ingrid’s work Christmas party (including a fancy, expendive dinner) was Monday evening.  I tried to meet up with Mandy, but the trains were still basically at a standstill with more snow falling…  so I stayed at Ingrid’s place, played guitar and watched movies all night.  Around 4AM I had figured she’d passed out and was staying with one of her co-workers, so I went to sleep.  A very short while later, she woke me up for an after party with her boss.  The boss had decided to let everyone come in after lunch on Tuesday, so it must have been a no holds barred night of partying.  They were all quite inebriated and demanded that I play guitar.  It was actually quite fun, but the kitchen was a complete mess the next day.

I just chilled out all day Tuesday, thinking I would leave after dinner for a hotel near the airport.  That plan changed when I saw the prices of hotels over there - $150 a night…  So I decided to stay one more night and just get up really early to be sure I didn’t miss the plane, even if the trains were screwed up.  So that icy, slippery night Ingrid took me out for a going away dinner at a nice little place her family frequents.  They had some very good steak…

I was also recruited to help Ingrid move an old couch down the stairs.  We couldn’t make it fit, so I had some fun making a few very slight modifications to the couch…

Then I had to get to bed around 10PM because I was waking up at 3:30 AM.

Early and still dark, I said goodbye to Ingrid at 4:00 and walked to the train station to catch the 4:30 stoptrain to Rotterdam Central.  Then I had to wait half an hour for the intercity to the airport.  I arrived at the airport at 6 AM, and found the Burger King still open, so in contrast to the great dinner the night before, I had a fast food breakfast.

Then I saw the oddest thing that I never expected to see in the Amsterdam airport…

And that was not about Chris Henry, but the Bengal’s surprisingly good season.

It was just after 6:30 AM, and I had 5 hours before boarding began for my flight, so I bought a pretty good book Vulcan 607 - about the British long range (8000 mile) bomber attack on the Falkland Islands in 1982.  I got into it, then on the plane and kept reading for the 8 hour flight to Chicago.

Once in Chicago, I got the 9th degree from immigration and homeland security.

Them:  Where have you been?

Me:  Holland and Belgium.

Them:  Why were you there?

Me:  Vacation and visiting a friend.

Them:  Where did you stay?

Me:  Her apartment in Dordrecht.

Them:  Is your friend American?

Me:  Nope - a smoking hot Dutch girl.  Wanna see a picture?

After a grimacing look from the agent, I realized I was being a bit too casual, but figured I’d roll with it since I had 6 hours and nothing to do.

Them:  Have you brought any plants or seeds back?

Me:  Oh, you mean weed?  Come on man, how dumb do you think I am?

Another mean look.

Them:  When was the last time you left America?

Me:  Well, I just got back in July.

Them: From where?

Me:  Well, almost everywhere.

Them:  Where specifically?

Me:  You may have noticed that my passport is completely full; but if you want the list…  Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Peru, New Zealand, Australia, Malasia, Thailand, Cambodia, India, U.A.E., and then back home.  Then I drove Route 66, went to Europe for 3 weeks, and now I’m here.

Them:  And why did you do that?

Me:  I chose to sit out the recession.

Them:  What do you do for a living?

Me:  Nothing - I quit work 14 months ago - thus sitting out the recession.

I realized that they really have trouble figuring out someone who is relaxed, more honest than necessary, and doesn’t care if he gets searched, so that’s where they sent me next.  They opened everything and sent me thru the x-ray.  The guy did a thorough job, but completely wrecked my packing.  At least this guy was a bit nicer.  He asked what I did to tick off the agent.  I told him that I apparently didn’t look scared enough and had a full passport - which is very odd for an American.  After unpacking my stuff, searching between book pages, opening gift wrapped items, etc… he told me to gather it up and move along.  I told him that unless he wanted to help me repack, I preferred to stay at his table and put everything back where it belongs.  He was nice enough to let me - probably because some lady at the next table was throwing a complete hissy fit about being searched and that agent needed assistance.

Once thru customs, I discovered my flight to Cincinnati had been cancelled.  Luckilly, another commuter flight was 3 hours late and had room, so I switched to standby and got on that flight.  Oddly, that got me home 3 hours earlier than planned.  I finished the book on the short flight to Cincy.  The nice surprize was that my checked luggage made it even after the change in flights; especially since the last time my luggage went thru O’Hare (5 years ago) $1000 of stuff was stolen and a nice bag was ruined.  I got lucky, because the next available flight was 1:30 PM the next day…

I got home and my buddy Bill picked me up and got me to my truck.  I was going to get him a big bottle of booze, but it’s darn expensive in Europe…  so I’ll probably get him a bottle of Scotch from he Party Source next week.

When I finally got home, my camera was still on Holland time -  4:30 AM.  I’d been awake and travelling for 25 hours.  I went straight to bed.  …Only to wake up and drive to Jackson, Tennessee to spend Christmas with my parents, sister & bro-in-law, and most importantly, my twin neices and one month old nephew!  It even snowed a little here, so we got a White Christmas!!

It’s nice to be back.  I’ll miss the fun I had with Ingrid, and I owe her a huge thanks for letting me crash at her place - especially since it would otherwise have been about $40/night or more… but next time I go to Europe it will not be winter (unless I go skiing).

And now, a Christmas treat for everyone:

…a picture my friend Tabitha sent on Facebook of skinny me, 20 years ago at a high school band concert.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Well, the tow truck driver had no sense of direction, so I had to pay him $36 to cover the overage on his 250 mile tow (including 86 miles for him to get to where I was).

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But we made it to the dealership in Midland, TX and they replaces the tire and threw in a free wash - although the tire plus labor was $474.  Ouch.

On the way, I saw Guadalupe Mountain National Park… not the way I was planning, so I’ll have to go back sometime.

After hitting the road again, I saw a fairly decent sunset, but liked this pic of wind turbines and cows…

After sleeping in Shreveport, LA, I drove thru Louisana and hit the Natchez Trace in Mississippi for 100 miles or so on the way back to my Sister’s house in Tennessee.  I probably missed the peak fall foliage colors by 2 or 3 weeks, but the trace is a very sweet route to take.  You just see trees and farms with a thin, but well maintained road to drive.  Very few side streets, no driveways…  Even when you drive thru towns, they’ve made a great effort to isolate your view so you don’t see shopping strips or other highways - just trees and fields.  The lighting wasn’t so good for pics due to clouds, so I just stopped at a camping area for a snapshop.  However, I am totally planning to drive the 440+ mile trace for spring and fall foliage whenever I can.  Via bicycle would be even better since the speed limit is 50 mph anyway.

My sister is in her 41st week of pregnancy with my Nephew…

So I’m back to playing uncle with my twin nieces while waiting for the bouncing baby boy to pop out…  Then it’s back to Cincinnati to actually live in my house for a few weeks before going to Holland to hang out with Ingrid and a few others for a few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I got to Carlsbad Caverns National Park around 10:30 AM and did the self guided audio tour.

For anyone who has not been there, these photos do not do a good job of showing the scale of the cave.  Then main path is over 1 mile to take a lap around the ‘Big Room’.

FYI:  The camera accentuates the colors that your eye sees.

The farthest back you can see in this pic is about 1/8 of a mile.  The cave goes much further around a few bends…

After taking the elevator 750 ft back up to the daylight and getting in my car, my plans changed.  The original idea was to see Guadalupe Mountains National Park (same mountain chain as Carlsbad, but in Texas), but the car alerted me to a flat tire.  Having run-flat tires, I drove back about 4 miles to the mini-city at the park entrance and found a helpful guy with an air pump.  Then I drove 20 miles back to Carlsbad city and it was flat again.  BMW Assist is sending a tow truck tomorrow morning (for free) to take me and the car 180 miles to a dealership in Midland, Texas where I can get the goofy type of run-flat tires I need.  Hopefully they’ll have the tires I need on hand.

I used up a lot of AMEX reward points in Las Vegas and Los Angeles…  Once those were exhausted, lodging became an issue as my cousin’s housing status had become very complex.  Luckily, Asa’s friends Brian and Rebekah let me couch surf at their apartment.  Their hospitality was greatly appreciated (especially since even the Motel6 is $70/night in LA), and it was a lot of fun because they were working on songwriting sessions every evening.  I owe them both…

I left L.A. 2 days ago.  My mom told me that there’s a new Route 66 sign on the Santa Monica Pier, so I had to go back…

Then on to Joshua Tree National Park…

You may notice the crumbled pile of rocks behind the tree.  The geology here was very similar to Hampi, India (albeit on a smaller scale) - with piles of boulders and crumbling hills.

This next one will make a great black & white once I convert it…

Then I found a hotel in Tuscon, Arizona.  The next day I started by visiting Saguaro National Park and the cactus plants you remember from Roadrunner and Cayote cartoons.  And I did see a roadrunner, but it was too quick for me to snap a pic in time…

For reference, these cacti are about 25 ft on average, and up to 50 ft tall.

yep, that’s me at the base of the plant…

After leaving the park, I spent a lot of time on the road to get to Carlsbad, NM.  Got some good landscape shots along the way…  especially during a rainstorm in Arizona, and at sunset in Las Cruces,NM.

Sunday I’ll hit Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains National Parks before the loooooooong drive to Austin.

I was going to upload my canyon driving video, but it’s too big.  Oh well, it was fun…  and now I get the geotag link to L.A.