"down through Missouri..."

I got an early start after a quick breakfast, and spent a long day at the wheel. I think I had underestimated the distance between St Louis and Tulsa, and it took most of the day to travel down through Missouri.

I stopped in Joplin for lunch and to refuel, but only because it is mentioned in the original lyrics of the song "Route 66", although not in the Rolling Stones version.

I finally crossed from Missouri into Oklahoma at around 4pm, and less than an hour later was at my destination, thanks once again to the efficient Magellan GPS.

Rose from Oklahoma Travel Services had contacted me several months ago, and had sent brochures on Oklahoma and Route 66 attractions to me while I was in London. She had very kindly arranged a couple of nights for me near to tomorrow's destination, at the very scenic Sequoyah State Park, just outside the town of Wagoner.

I drove into the park, and couldn't find anyone at the office, so went and found the RV area, close to the shores of the lake. There was practically nobody else about, so I picked a scenic site right by the water's edge, and connected the RV to the water and power supplies. This was the first time I have done this, and everything works perfectly, lighting, heating, fridge, shower. I am so pleased with the RV, it is becoming like a home now.

As I was setting up, four deer came wandering past. It's been a very warm day, and it was still warm in the early evening, so I went for a refreshing dip in the lake, then watched the sunset and made dinner. Very nice.

"Well it goes from St. Louis..."

I was up early this morning after another Walmart overnight, this time on the outskirts of St Louis. My new best friend, the Magellan GPS, took me straight to the CBS Y-98 radio studio, and I was live on air before 8am with Guy, Courtney and Jen. It was great fun, very chatty and light-hearted, and it was good to talk to a few callers afterwards.

When we were finished I drove into town, and after a quick look around Union Station, once the largest and busiest passenger terminal in the world, I parked up at the Mississippi riverfront, just by the Arch.

The Arch is absolutely incredible! It is huge! You can go inside, and a lift/train hybrid system takes you up to the top, where the view is breath-taking. The "how it was built" movie was fascinating too, and the whole thing is all the more impressive having beeen constructed in the early 60s.




It looked like I wasn't going to meet anyone in St Louis, as just like Springfield, my potential local guide, Francesca, called to tell me she was ill. I took her advice though, and went on the Anheuser-Busch Brewery tour - why miss out on free beer?

On the tour I got chatting to Rene and Jeff. Rene is achieving one of her goals tonight, by staying in a haunted house. She is very excited, and promised to email me to let me know how it goes, as it is one of my goals too! Good luck Rene!

Earlier today, after the radio show, Tara contacted me via email, and in the evening I met with her and her husband for dinner at well known local restaurant O'Learys, which was also one of Francesca's recommendations, and which had been mentioned a few times during the radio show interview. It was really nice to have someone offer to meet for dinner, as my other option was a lonely tin of soup in my chilly RV! Thanks guys!



Off to bed now in a quiet carpark hidden away behind the restaurant.

Goal number 12 has been inked into place!

The drive from Springfield out into Indiana took a bit longer than expected, and it was mid afternoon before I found my way to Ellettsville. The Magellan GPS did it's job well, when I finally figured out how to use it, and I gave Josh a ring for final directions to his shop.

Josh owns and runs "Eternal Ink Tattoo", and he had kindly offered to help out with my goal of sorting out my tattoo. For further details on the original tattoo, and the need to "sort it out", you can take a look at the goal details by clicking here. Suffice to say that the tattoo was pretty old, and no longer looking it's best.

Josh looked pretty much as I expected he might, a bearded, tattooed, Harley-Davidson biker-type guy, and he greeted me warmly and took me into his shop. We chatted for a while about travelling, tattoos, guns, and life in general, and we seemed to get on very well pretty much straightaway. We seemed to have alot in common in attitudes and backgrounds.

Josh had a couple of ideas with regards to covering the tattoo with something new, and after some discussion, and alot of leafing through his artwork, I picked another lion's head, but quite a bit bigger and more elaborate than my previous one. It would cover the old one very well, was Josh's opinion.

So I took a seat and Josh went to work. It's a bit painful, but not too bad, although after half an hour or so I did ask how much longer it was likely to take. The job was finished within an hour, and I have to say that the final result looks WAY better than the old tattoo, although when I look at it in a mirror my initial reaction is surprise, as it is quite a bit bigger. I'll get used to it soon though, I imagine.




Josh is pretty keen on his firearms, and a strong supporter of the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution, the right to bear arms. He showed me two small pistols he had, one in his boot, and one in his pocket, and another larger pistol that he carried under his arm in a holster.

Later we went to his house, where his wife Taryn cooked us a lovely Mexican dinner, and Josh showed me an arsenal of weapons he had at home, including an assault rifle and a pump action shotgun. I was absolutely amazed by the weaponry he laid out on the sofa. Being from the UK originally, and currently living in Australia, I have never known anyone that would have such a cache of weapons.

Unfortunately time was against us, as I had arrived a bit too late in the afternoon, and Josh and I both had stuff we needed to do the next morning, so I never got a chance to fire any of the guns, but Josh had been pretty keen to try and get out to a friend's property and put some targets up and let me have a go with them. It was such a shame to miss such a fantastic opportunity. Next time maybe?



The next morning Josh ran me about a bit to sort out some money at the bank (a bit tricky, as I still don't have my cashpoint card!) and to get problem with my computer fixed by the local computer whizzkids.

All to soon, it was time to set off, as I wanted to get to St Louis before dark, so I said my farewells to all at the tattoo shop, and was on my way.

A huge thanks to Josh and Taryn, and their three wonderful kids, for such fantastic hospitality, and also to Josh's friend Jordan for the bed for the night. Great fun, fantastic tattoo. Hope to see you again soon.

If you are anywhere near Indiana, and are considering some bodily artwork, Josh is your man. Great work, genuine guy. Contact him at:
eternalinktattooz@yohoo.com.

"Well it winds from Chicago to LA..."

I set off from Chicago first thing on Monday morning to begin my Route 66 trip. I picked up the RV as early as I could, and attached the licence plates that I had received for it, and after a quick check-over, was ready to go.

The first few miles in any secondhand vehicle are always the most nerve-wracking, as you hope that no major problems are going to reveal themselves, such as overheating, or strange noises from the engine bay.

Fortunately all went well, and after only one small detour through the countryside, I eventually found my way onto Route 55 towards Springfield, Illinois.

I took it pretty easy, and stopped a couple of times to check out the RV, and all continued to be well, and I eventually made it to Springfield in the late afternoon. After quite a while driving around completely lost, I eventually found the city centre, and parked up to make a quick phone call.

I had hoped to have a local Springfield guide, but when I called, Joni was pretty ill, so I was on my own for the evening. She gave me directions to the nearest Walmart, and I headed there and parked up. Walmarts superstores are very RV-friendly, and at most of them overnight RV parking is allowed in their securely monitored carparks. I confirmed that I would be able to stay there, and headed off for dinner.

The Cozy Dog Drive-In is, apparently, the birthplace of the original corn dog, which Joni had recommended I should try. The corn dog is basically a hotdog sausage on a stick, with a coating of corn-based batter. A bit odd, but quite tasty. The drive-in was filled with an amazing array of Route 66 memorabilia.



Back at Walmart I bought some food supplies, some pots and pans, and settled in for the evening. It was pretty cold, and I woke in the middle of the night, absolutely freezing, despite all the clothes layers I was wearing! I really need to figure out how the RV gas central heating system works!

I woke the next morning, ready to take a detour to visit Josh, who had contacted me from Indiana, and before setting off I went back into Walmart and bought a Magellan GPS navigator - hopefully that should prevent too many more navigational problems!

Route 66 plans.

I imagine the majority of people will be most familiar with the Rolling Stones' version of the song "(Get your kicks on) Route 66", but it was actually written way back in 1946 by American song writer Bobby Troup, and recorded in the same year by Nat King Cole. Since then there has been over sixty recorded versions of the popular song:

Well if you ever plan to motor west
Just take my way that's the highway that's the best
Get your kicks on Route 66

Well it winds from Chicago to L.A.
More than 2000 miles all the way
Get your kicks on Route 66

Well it goes from St. Louis down to Missouri
Oklahoma City looks oh so pretty
You'll see Amarillo and Gallup, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona don't forget Winona
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernadino

Would you get hip to this kindly tip
And go take that California trip
Get your kicks on Route 66

Well goes from St. Louis down to Missouri
Oklahoma city looks oh so pretty
You'll see Amarillo and Gallup, New Mexico
Flagstaff, Arizona don't forget Winona
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernadino

Would you get hip to this kindly tip
And go take that California trip
Get your kicks on Route 66

So today is the day, I am setting off from Chicago, and go take that California trip, passing through all of the places listed in the song on the way, and sticking as much as possible to the original Route 66.

This is a rough outline of the trip over the next couple of weeks, but as always, is quite subject to change along the way:-

27th - Mon night - Springfield
28th - Tues night - detour to get my tattoo sorted out
29th - Wed Night - St Louis (possible radio interview 8am on Y98-FM CBS radio)
30th - Thurs night - St Louis
31st - Fri night - Tulsa
1st - Sat night - Tulsa/Oklahoma
2nd - Sun night - Oklahoma
3rd - Mon night - Oklahoma
4th - Tues night - Oklahoma
5th - Wed night - Amarillo
6th - Thur night - Albuquerque
7th - Fri night - Grand Canyon
8th - Sat night - Grand Canyon
9th - Sun night - Grand Canyon
10th - Mon night - Grand Canyon
11th - Tues night - Las Vegas
...and eventually onward into LA.

For further information on my planned route, take a look at the picture below. You can click on it to open up an interactive map:



Wikipedia: Route 66

Is there a doctor in the pub?

Chicago has been such a fun place, and I have had a great week here. I seem to have managed to fit so much in, and that is largely thanks to the wonderful city guides I have had here.

On Friday I did the touristy thing, and went up to the observation deck at the Sears Tower, and later met up with Aileen and her friends Ted and Olivia, and went to see a fantastic group, The Secret Machines at the Metro. They were pretty psychadelic, perhaps a mix of Pink Floyd and Rush, with a pretty big powerful sound.

They have played before as support to Oasis, and are doing so again on Oasis's upcoming tour of Mexico. More on The Sectre Machines here:
The Secret Machines - website
The Secret Machines - MySpace



Yesterday was one of the highlights of my Chicago visit. Diane took me along to the 28th Annual Tavern Tour, which is a huge fancy-dress pub crawl that takes place on the last Saturday of October each year. There were probably around 300 to 400 people, maybe more, all in costume, wandering from pub to pub in central Chicago. It was absolutely hilarious, and some of the costumes were very elaborate.

Diane took me to a costume shop, where I got a doctor's outfit, and a bit of fake blood, and I geared up as an ER doctor.

In the first pub I set myself a challenge of getting a photograph of myself with at least three different naughty nurses. It turned out to be harder than I thought, and ultimately, I failed, only finding two nurses. However, I did find 8 other doctors, a muppets lab technician, and a psychiatric patient.







Once again, huge thanks to Diane, who has been so kind to put up with me living in her front room for the week, and to Aileen for being a wonderful city guide, and also to everyone else I have met in Chicago who have made this such a great week.

RV sorted out.

I went into the city again yesterday to take a look at some of the parts I had not seen yet. Millenium Park, between the city and the lake shore really is a lovely place, and the Cloud Gate, or the Bean as locals call it, is quite stunning. There is also a great outdoor amphitheatre which hosts all sorts of concerts in the summer. It's a bit cold now though as winter approaches, so there is nothing on there at the moment.



At last, things finally seem to be coming together a bit here in Chicago, as Diane drove me out to look at an RV, and I put a deposit on it yesterday afternoon. I went back today to pay the rest of the money and collect the keys, and am now ready to set off on the next part of the journey. Just have to register and insure it tomorrow, but research tells me that it shouldn't be too much of an issue - fingers crossed! Hopefully it will serve me well on the way down south and across Route 66.

Chicago on a nicer day.

I seem to be making some progress here in Chicago. Yesterday I managed to open a bank account in my name, which was a bit tricky, but it now means that I can transfer funds from Australia in one larger sum, for one fee only, instead of drawing out smaller sums every other day, and getting hit for transaction fees every time. I will have a debit card, and be able to pay for stuff on the card, or withdraw cash at any ATM, no fees at all.

And today I went into the motor vehicle registaration office to find out what paperwork I would need to transfer vehicle ownership into my name. Would my Australian drivers licence be an issue? No. What about insurance? Not required to transfer ownership. So what do I need? The title document from the previous owner, and a sum of money. Easy!

However, my telecommunications system has taken a bit of a backwards step. Despite having made hardly any calls on the US mobile number I got, my credit seems to have been going down rather quickly. I went into the shop today, indignantly demanding to know what was going on. "Have you been receiving any calls?" Well of course I have, I've given out my new number to all and sundry, and happily chatted away to friends and family who have called me. "Ah, well there you go. You pay for incoming calls too." WHAT! I can't believe it! You pay the same rate on a pre-pay phone here for incoming calls as you do for outgoing ones. I was astounded! Nobody else here that I have mentioned it to here has been in the least bit surprised. "Of course you do, what did you think?"

Anyway, it was a much nicer day in the city today as I went for a wander around. After 5pm I met up with Aileen, who had contacted me through the website, and we went to the John Hancock Building for a drink. The view of the darkening city was awesome, and we had a few drinks before heading off for dinner.



Later on Aileen took me for a tour of her local neighbourhood, affectionately known as Boystown, due to the huge number of gay bars there. We picked one and went in for a drink, and a game of pool, and were entertined by a camp transvestite singing and dancing competition. Brilliant!



It's just such random evenings that make this whole trip so much fun. At 3pm I was quietly tapping away on my computer keyboard, and by 11pm I was in the campest bar I have ever been in in my whole life, with a group of new friends! Marvellous!