(This may be a few weeks out but finding a computer and time has been a bit of a nightmare. This was written about a week and a bit ago.) As I write the team are sitting on a plane several thousand feet above the United States. We ran out of money and have decided after lavish spending on the glittering West Coast to return home whence we came.
Only joking (but we did contemplate the East Coast simply constituting sleeping in JFK airport the spending was heavy) we're on our way to Dallas in the centre of Texas. The group decided to skip the gruelling 18 hour drive across the harsh climate of New Mexico and Arizona for a decently price flight. Another week has gone and we are now half way through the trip having completed our adventure on the west coast. It has hit our wallets hard and supreme budgeting is now the order of the day.
The week previously we were on our way to the Grand Canyon and woke up to remember that the Premier League had started (yawns from Ollie and Charlie), but for me and Rupert's fantasy teams and football lovers we checked results before heading down for breakfast. We had awoken to freezing temperatures in our room. Ollie was recovering from a cold brought on by a combination of tiredness, lack of fruit and excess travelling. The group was a little under the weather but morale soon recieved a boost with a solid breakfast; which for once included milk, cereal and plenty of fruit. On top of that the drive, though short as we headed for the town of Williams, proved to be a memorable one along the fabled Route 66. Though we didn't quite make it the end of the route (Chicago),it was a great drive as searing, dry heat turned to driving through quite the thunderstorm which included rain, forked lightening and hail to boot, an immense relief to be perfectly honest. Temperatures dropped from 45 C - 16 C in mere minutes and afterwards I reflected upon how fortunate it was that I relieved myself before we hit the rainstorm along perhaps the straightest road you and I will ever see. Corners could be seen miles ahead and Charlie had to prepare himself for the mental test, the mere shock of seeing a corner (which as usual was greeted with drama). Straight roads, deserts turning bog in the storm and lenghty freighttrains passing through the mother of all wildernesses (a particular favourite of Rupert's) and driving along to American countryside music praising Jesus (we have to prepare for Texas), it was a landscape to behold that epitomised the heartland of American wilderness. It makes you realise how little of America, the U.S citizens actually live in. This was capped off by a B.M.T Italian Subway at the end of the route.
We arrived at Williams town nearby the Williams Grand Canyon and settled down nicely on the edge of town, walking distance from the restaurants and mall needed to supply with food the nights before and after the Grand Canyon. Whilst the others rested I took a stroll round the town named after my surname stoppin at a remarkable Native American shop after buying some homemade chocolate fudgecake). The shop was full of items and objects hand-made by Native Americans on the reserves. An assorment of bows and arrows (the latters made from razor-sharp stone and glass), battle axes, hunting knives (probably also used to scalp enemies in history past), drums, dreamcatchers and well-sculpted pottery engraved with and made with certain purpose. With traditional Native American music to boot, being in this particular shop was a real enjoyment. I did buy a few gifts but I passed on the oppurtunity to buy my dad a battle-axe; the iodea of him swinging the axe around on a sit-on-mower would probably have been too much for mum's stress, not to mention the issue of getting the axe through customs. I was joined by Ollie and Rupert and we had a chat with the store owner Don for a good hour.
Quite the conversation it turned out to be. Three years retired and a Vietnam veteran , Don was living quite the lifestyle as a hunter who came to Arizona to shoot, stalk and roam the area for wildlife and in the winter was a ski-instructor who lived with his wife in the North of Yosemite Park. He also happened to come from the best city as well (San Diego). He and Rupert had lots to share on hunting and shooting, both of them exchanging pictures of past kills (though obviously Don has quite some kills, one of which was a bull male moose that actually has to be cut apart to carry out of the canyon). The debate of hunting laws and gun laws emerged breifly and it was unnerving to think (though not surprising) to think that alot of people walk around the U.S.A carrying hidden weaponery. Nevertheless he did amuse us with one of his stories of when he and his group hunting were camping a bear came snooping in the middle of the night. It turned out that rather than doing the obvious and s**tiing themselves as we would have done, one of the group, a stocked butcher punched the bear, a big wild bear in the jaw and sent it scurrying. That was one ballsy butcher. After numerous tales of skiing, hunting and our own travels we left Don, Ollie reflecting how he could have sat with Don for hours in a pub drinking beer and chatting non-stop. Quite alternate views, but the conversation was pretty cool, a very traditional American.
After this the group was re-joined by well-rested Charlie and we went out for a great steak and chips in one of the local restaurants (I passed for financial reasons) and then contented ourselves with both Kill Bill movies to us in the zone for the Grand Canyon.
We rose after a good night's sleep, the double bed sharing disgruntling Ollie, indignant at how I took up the whole bed and being on the whole a bit sensationalist. After a large jam-sandwiches and a few bananas we set-off. Originally I was quite surprised during the one hour drive that the Grand Canyon would be in this particular area given the nature of terrain which was more foresty, mountainous and green than I previously imagined. I had always assumed that the Grand Canyon would have been a hole in the middle of arid desert previously seen when arriving in Arizona. After debating with Rupert about the dire state of our fantasy teams we arrived and were not dissapointed. You've seen it on films, heard about it from all and sundry. Is it worth the hype? The answer is a resounding yes. The Grand Canyon, a mass of red rocks and cliffs tanning in the sun for about 2 billion years, is vast and incomprehensible in age. Peer over the edge and you confront an awesome landscape with steep valleys and canyons that one man could not explore in one-lifetime. We stared munching on our mini-picnic on a precarious cliff-edge looking on as another awesome storm lingered in the distance, brought on by the high temperatures. This offered some stunning photography oppurtunities which we took in kind. Group-photos, selfies, pouting (possibly an exaggeration), normal pictures, looking adventurous; we practically hogged the cliff-face and made it our own, thinking screw the French tourists).
After this the group drove a scenic route stopping at different locations along the Canyon and left driving through some scenic plains quite similar to the Great Plains. Idiotic Custer making his stand against three-thousand furious Native Americans sprang to mind as I drove; the others reminding me occasionally which side of the road to turn out onto. Once again Ollie managed to exploit the tiredness adding to his sizeable album. On return to the hotel room, Tom Hanks in Cast Away was the order of the day. Vegas was waiting for us which would prove to be quite the opposite to what we had just seen. Williams and the Grand Canyon had spoiled us. Nevada and Vegas was about to do the same but break us financially and mentally in the process!
Bags packed, heads in the zone for a long, traditional Vegas night to come we piled into the car and set off for Sin City. We double-tracked Route 40 which had led us into Arizona and made our way to Nevada. It is quite hard to believe that a city existed in the middle of the desert, given life by the Hoover Dam. Though a overcast day, it became humid and hot, particularly at our visit to the Hoover Dam, but we managed to get a few decent shots and peers over the steep dam. It may have been smaller than the one from Golden Eye in James Bond but it was still pretty high. Skateboarding down it would be fun, but short-lived (quite literally). We left Arizona for Nevada to reach the Hoover Dam and returned to Arizona to park, we then left Arizona by foot and returned to Nevada to see the dam. Content by the view we strolled back into Arizona, got back in the car and drove back into Nevada for Hotel Elara. The complications of a dam being a border of states...
The drive into Vegas was naturally accompanied by several Hangover tunes including Kanye West's 'Can't Tell Me Nothing', Flo Rida's 'Right Round' and Usher. None of us were particularly huge fans of these artists, but on this occasion it fit the bill and it got even better when we found our room in the Elara Hotel. Situated on Floor 11 it was massive and exceeded all expectations. The room had a hot-tub, a view of quite a bit of Vegas, a big bathroom and a fridge in which to store excess amounts of beers. Clearly though we detected that as me and Ollie had a fold out bed, this was room was designed for couples (shit). The hot-tub was designed for two as well. Into shirts and smart attire we headed out for the casinos and glamour of Vegas and did so again for four nights straight.
Summary of Vegas:
- What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
- 0-00 was good to me personally :D
- What happens in Vegas will most likely emerge on Facebook and Youtube and stay forever.
- We ate alot of Panda Express, almost every meal.
- I sleeping patterns were completely screwed over by Vegas.
- No sleep.
- Vegas and the house won overall (particualarly on Charlie and Matt)
- Pool and Television was recovery.
- Money very, very, very well spent.
- Free drinks at the Roulette machines were great.
So now we head East. Texas, New Orleans, Atalanta, North Carolina, Washington, Philadelphia and New York beckon and if the first half of the trip is anything to go by we are in for a treat again. Perhaps a little cheaper hopefully.
Facts of the week
- American TV remains crap
- It was weird watching Premier League football in the morning.
- A girl we were chatting to believed that in England the lords ruled over pheasants as supposed to the correct term peasants.
Quotes:
- Just one more!
- Go on Lucas stick him!
- Hornbear and Matterhorn
- I have a direct shot at your head Mr. Bond, go sit on the bead JA? Pop your trousers on the stool to Ja! Dr. Kaufman.
- Names in Vegas adopted: Hector (Matthew), Glen (Ollie), Sven (Rupert) and Lee-Kee Wang (Charlie)
- Xerxes
- Persians!
- Xerxes stood aforth a gold hummer, with Gucci accessories that only a Persian would find cool!
- You can sit with me if you waaant! (Forrest Gump).
- Though contemplated we haven't as yet got tattoos on our arms which resembled a skull surrounded by chains and weaponery with an American flag as the background with word below saying 'Freedom! F**k Yer!'
Matthew Williams
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