Blogs from Texas, United States, North America - page 260

It's official, 44 hours is a VERY long time..... that's how long it took for us to make it from our bed in Amsterdam, to the next bed, in Houston. We left the Robertson's apartment in Munich at about 12:45 AM, to make the 1:03 subway to the train station.... once we got to the station, we had to wait till 3 AM to catch the first train to the airport.... This is a very nice train station, and it is central to a very nice mass transit system (Munich's is apparently one of the best in Europe), but it's pretty freaky in the wee hours during Oktoberfest.... Anyway, we tried to blend in with our huge packs and made it safely to the airport at 4 AM. We checked in with Air France for our ... read more

Only choice words can begin to describe how I have been feeling this past week. Even then, I'm not sure if they will do it justice, as much has passed between my last entry and today. Hurricane Katrina was absolutely devastating. From the eyes of an onlooker, one can see the lasting impressions it left on thousands- millions as it affected this entire country at different levels. However, from the eyes of someone who has seen that carnage at point blank range, it looks even worse. I have been making it my new routine to go to the Astrodome 2 or 3 times a week to do whatever I can. I'm not sure if it makes it better or worse for me, because every time I leave it wrenches my heart to see all the people ... read more

Hi, On the last weekend, I have travelled to south Texas. First stop was Austin where I have spent the night. Austin has great night life, nice pubs, etc. In one of the pubs, I watched a bluz performance which was really nice. A couple from Forth Worth "adopted" me. They were very much impressed that I have travelled on my own, a piece of cake for me. They were quite drunk and made me drunk as well by buying me more drinks. The lady kept using the sentence: "Oh, this is so hot" (hot = cool) on about everything. "I am from Israel" - "Oh, this is so hot". Or, "I work in computers" - "Oh, this is so hot", etc. Once they left to another pub, I escaped from them. On Saturday, waking up ... read more

This is why I hate pictures of myself when I'm overweight. Look! It's a fat Tom Hanks - except he's finally outside the terminal! Thanks for your notes of support. First posting tomorrow from Berlin. To those who don't know my next 28 days will look like this: IAH/FRA/TXL/FRA/EDI/LHR/SIN/BKK/SYD/SIN/HKG/ORD/IAH. Off on LH 441 in about 10 minutes. Much more to talk about tomorrow, I'm sure. Just had to add the hideous picture to my report. I promise it will be one of the very few of me you'll see in this blog...!!! -g... read more

It has very sensibly been suggested that we should put some dates into this, so here goes: 31/08/05 Memphis We're having trouble finding accommodation because of refugees from Katrina, we've ended up on a travel plaza with rigs all around and somebody has just tried to get into our room, mmmm nice. 01-02/09/05 Memphis to Tulsa We spent the morning in the Pyramid Centre at Memphis viewing "The Art of the Motorcycle", see photos for the full beauty of an Ordinary with engine. After lunch we drove past Gracelands then headed towards Tulsa, getting as far as Lake Ouchita where we camped. We got approached by raccoons, which was rather unnerving as their eyes lit up fluorescent green in our torches. They ran away when Vern tried to take a picture. We met a couple from ... read more