Two tremendous book shops

Myopic

Powell's

Missing a gig at The Knitting Factory

13th Floor Elevators

Eye of Providence

Varicose veins

Varicose veins

Spider veins

Weather vanes

Window panes (Chicago)

Leg ache

VeinGogh

Lake Shore Limited

Eagles, other birds and the Portland hostel

Bald Eagle?

Batman villains' lair

Northwest Portland Hostel

Kingston Bar Grill

Rails

Elasticated waists

More pretend maladies

Botox crackles

Some ruddy decent underwear

One World Trade Centre

One World Trade Centre

More of the Frontier

Kings of the Wild Frontier

Village Vanguard

Greenwich Village

"Ole" part one - by John Coltrane (with Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, Freddie Hubbard, Eric Dolphy, Art Davis and Reggie Workman)

Second part of "Ole" with some incredible bass playing near the beginning

Dexter Gordon

Someone 'legging it'

Ice Hockey and Goose Island

New York Rangers

An ice hockey brawl

The Beatles falling out brawl

Goose Island

Baldwinsville

Vesuvio

City Lights

Jack Kerouac

This is what books look like

A bustling booze place

Sherry

NY and Richter

New York Metro

Statue of Liberty

Gerhard Richter

Excuse me; where's Brooklyn please?

Grand Central Station

Brooklyn; the view from Manhattan

Getting off buses in San Francisco

Add caption

San Fancisco buses

Possible bus travellers

Probable bus travellers

Damned flippin SF traffic

Fish kettle

Angry tramp

San Francisco Police car (sponsored by Nokia)

No side ladder

Side ladder

Tights' ladder

Gall bladder (attack)

British Airways

Seat 27a

World Traveller

News on arrival

Oklahoma

Tornado (in Luton, England)

The Ray Manzarek at the airport video

Ray Manzarek doing his thing

Great Ray Manzarek picture

Ray Manzarek obit



(By the way, to remove any doubt, I admire Ray's work in The Doors. Though the link where he's 'doing his thing' doesn't show his best work)

Chicago

IHSP Chicago Hostel (not recommended. I've linked to negative reviews; it should be said there are many more which are positive....)

Wicker Park / Damen

CTA Blue Line

Six Corners Intersection controversy

Walgreens

Unfinished Symphony,
Anna Boghiguian

The Art Institute of Chicago

Portland

Add caption

US Mail

North West Portland Hostel and Guesthouse (thoroughly recommended)

Portland Union station

Dental implants

San Francisco

Hotel North Beach

Alcatraz

Joseph Conrad Square

Varicose veins

Venous insufficiency

Lunch break

Cable cars

Amoeba Music

New York

Ad caption

Chelsea International Hostel

Airtrain

E line

Long Island Railroad

American Robin

Penn Station

Fear of needles

Nailed to the mast

American Collectors, David Hockney

USA by Rail, Bradt Guide

Howl, Allen Ginsberg

Rebels, Robert Rauschenberg

Tickets please

Here they are. The train ones at least. Or those I printed of at Penn Station, New York. (I didn't bother with the Luton to Heathrow single ticket.......) Please don't try and glean any personal details from these tickets. And if you do, don't use them in any way which may disadvantage me.

I'm not going to give any more explanations about the trip itself. That's my intention at this stage, anyway. I have a Flickr account with some reasonably well sorted pictures if you like that sort of thing; the first few pages have an introductory nature to them; and an itinerary and the plane ticket will appear relatively soon. There is, however, rather a lot to get through in the next few months, so off we go.*





(*tomorrow. 'Off we go' tomorrow. Or, more accurately, in the next post.)

Some introductory words before we get going

I've always wanted to travel overland, all the way across America; from coast to coast. It's been one of those things I've wanted to do, back from a time very soon after I started putting together lists of things I wanted to do.

A recent-ish renewal in my fondness for long-distance trains and the splendid value of Amtrak's tickets helped coalesce a rather terrifying, high speed and possibly risky dash into the filthy, damaging heart of a corrupt, all conquering and sneering nation fell away into something a little more sedate. As someone who, in every sense, is in their mid-40s, I could dispense with any notion of having to do things with a rocking or rolling bent. My planning energies squarely focused on mail ordering travel towels and currency cards to go with my supremely comfortable travel trousers, with elasticated waist, which I bought last year while on an unfeasibly wet holiday in North Wales. Was I going for a pseudo bohemian course of sensory deprivation, broiling roads, gritty blues clubs, cacti and hippy camps? Err, no.

True, I did book cheap hostel accommodation, but then I booked all my accommodation,tickets and the day trip to Alcatraz almost a year in advance. Each time I thought along rocking or rolling lines, something pulled me back. Which didn't matter one iota; I missed things, but I didn't waste much time doing so and was able to soak a load in in the meantime.

The second test page

The second test page. Contained on it are a couple of sticky bits which very much look as if they've come off printer cartridges and have nothing whatsoever to do with my trip. About which I will elaborate very soon, but in a way which will no doubt answer more questions than it answers.

Also here, three things very much connected to my voyage. From the top; I think this is a luggage label. Certainly something like that. Something connected to Amtrak at least; that much should be bloomin' obvious. In the middle, a picture of the cover of a paperback edition of Robert M Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I used all my pretentious points up taking and reading this, but cared not one jot. It's ok. Nothing like as bad as Moby Dick, to which it's often compared. Thirdly, a little label that was stuck to my British Airways veggie dinner (hey BA; the picture's a bit of fun, right?) The journey was some months ago now; I can't remember if it was okra on the way out, or in. Out, I think.

One more test page; then an intro and we'll be off.

This is the first test page of the blog. It may be gone already. It depends. 

I quite like the image, which is of an empty sheet of US stamps. Philatelists needn't fear; an image of an actual stamp appears later.

Things will get going properly very soon.

No link for this first test page. It's a test. More soon, although I'm no really getting the hang of this at all.