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Published: August 12th 2007
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*********Stats***********
KMs to date: 14,500 and change
Provinces/States: 22
Tires: 2
Oil Changes: 3
Lowest Temperature:-5 C
Highest Temperature: 36 C
Days: 81
Best Food: Seafood in Nova Scotia
Worst Food: Week old microwaved ham and cheese roll at Exxon
Closest to accident: Hitting dear in Gaspesie park - within ten feet (managed to stop)
Worst feeling: Thinking the bike had been stolen in Portland
Best feeling: Watching sunset on beach in Gaspesie
Strangest accent: today at hanger-sized Wal-Mart: took me three tries to understand "Where's Seattle (pronounced 'See-ah-ddle') at?"
************************
Hola
So I am again sitting in god-knows-where America in another generic motel eating grocery store sandwiches. But, like before, I am seeing lots and learning more and more about what it means to be American. The last time I wrote was back in Halifax, just after Delphine went home. I'll pick it up from there.
After a couple of rainy days in Halifax the rain thinned into fog and I hit the road with my fingers (well, toes) crossed. I was heading west towards Yarmouth to catch the highspeed ferry for Portland Maine. The weather turned out to be great and I enjoyed one last windy, waterside
drive in Nova Scotia and had one last lobster before catching the ferry.
The ferry turned out to be pretty amazing and well run. The ferry itself was a highspeed (56 miles an hour) catamaran that offered cinema style seats and a bad selection of movies to make the time pass faster. A hundred pages of my book and a lot of (trying to) sleep I was in Portland. The security waiting for us there was like nothing I have ever seen. The border cops were searching every single vehicle with a comb and the line was barely creeping forward. I knew I was back in the states since most people let their cars idle to support their 5000 BTU air conditioners, often with their windows open. Well after the sun had set I finally got a hold of a guy I had contacted earlier on couchsurfing.com (a website that sets people up with people offering couches for travelers). And, after some impatient scooting around Portland, I was at his doorstep. Knocking on his cracked window pane. Beside a drunk, toothless man. Feeling... what's the emotion between scared and stupefied?
Everything worked out great, though, and I slept
on a wicker love seat with my last lucid thought being "I shouldn't shift much in my sleep or i might break this thing". In the morning, though, I discovered that Le Doigt had been towed. I turns out they had pasted two 8 1/2 x 11 inch pieces of paper to power poles along the block saying that there was construction commencing the next day. I, and four other cars, of course, didn't see them.
$85 bucks later I was off to Boston and a little stop in southern Maine to see an old friend from home. I got to Boston that evening and had a quiet night at Daniel's nice apartment (and some good Indian food!). The next day I wandered the streets of Boston just checking the place out. I wasn't feeling to well, though, and so I spent that night and the following day mostly sprawled on Daniel's couch and working. That next night we got some kickass seafood with some friend's of Daniel's and took a little tour of Boston in Amy's car. Good stuff!
The next morning I was off for Washington. I made the trip in two stints - the first,
that day, was five hours (finished again of course with a generic motel - this time with an ice machine!) The next day I was in Washington, driving around blindly in the intense heat for the hostel. But, thanks to a cool taxi driver, I found the hostel and begun exploring. Almost immediately I met two guys, one from New York and another from Spain, and we went together to the major monuments in the city. I'll let the pictures tell that night's story.
The hostel was fine but had terrible staff, making my time there feel longer then it should have. But, the museums in Washington made up for that and the disgustingly humid weather (think of a sauna under a heatlamp). My days were spent at: the Air and Space museum, the Holocaust museum, the Simpsons movie, the whitehouse, the washington monument, the lincoln memorial, the pentagon, and every two-hour-limit parking spot in Washington.
Today I left washingon on the early side and made about five hours progress WEST!!!! Finally a long drive Westbound! Next stop: Columbus Ohio...
Ciao for now!
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