JK's Big America Trip

[Jonny Kirk]

okay folks,

this is the big one. AK has just come back from America. Still stuck in another time zone. Before I leave, I have been training myself to adjust to America's time zone. Thats right, by getting up at 3pm here, I am getting up at 10, sometimes 8 in the morning over there. I am set.

I leave tomorrow morning for Dublin, then bright and early Saturday morning (up at 4/5am - eek) to jet to America. then the fun really begins.

I am attempting to do about as much as AK has done, but in LESS THAN HALF THE TIME! i am going to be dead by the end. I can't reveal anything that I am doing, as that will spoil the surprise. however, ican reveal that even today, hours before i leave, i found more things that i can do in order to rack up the points. big points too. i can reveal that its a 60 pointer i think, and its free...

i'll try and keep you posted when i go over.

i am so gonna win this.

[MelInAmerica]

Johnny has just left my house 45 minutes ago or so. He was able to accomplish a number of Banter items..and it was funny to listen to him tell everyone he met here what exactly he's up to. GOOOOOOOOOOOO Team JK!!!

[Jonny Kirk]

hello,

right, i'm sure AK has got the postcard by now. the breaking news then, is that i have survived the Bermuda triangle. I nearly didnt. I was actually quarantined for 48 hours cos they thought i may have had a norovirus. in reality, i had eaten a dodgy burger, and got the squits. where was i quarantined? a CRUISE SHIP. yes folks. i got a cruise to bermuda. in good time as well. about a week after i left, it got hit by a hurricane. 180 points so far, plus 20 for being in 2 different states.

started route 66. oh yes, after some clay pigeon shooting at mel's house. YES! 20 gauge shotguns people! why was i allowed this gun? what were they thinking. then got a car. very nice car indeed. something i would never be allowed to drive back home in a million years. visited the barb wire museum in texas (it actually exists). i even bought some barb wire from the shop, and took a picture of the much talked about bundle of barbed wire (215 different types for $135 - bargain).

travelled down to oklahoma, and got the biggest, bestest chocolate cake in the world. i can not stress how big this was. it lasted 3 days, between 2 people. it was 2 clenched fists wide (we had no rulers) by 2 clenched fists wide and 1 clenched fist high. which makes it about 4 clenched fists cubed. we actually spent about 20 mins laughing at how big it was, which confused our lovely waitress Katie. apparently, that is the normal size of desserts there. it was bigger than my ego!

we went through new mexico, officially the worst state ever. even turning left at albuquerque (90 points - its all about the points) near resulted in death 3 times due to the crazy drivers. dont read this mum. lightning storms, hotel with freight trains running all through the night, rain, cops outside the motel at 1 in the morning, santa fe (tourist trap - avoid avoid avoid). with a really strange enchilada meal (expensive and very odd, with a minging raspberry ice tea) coupled with the busiest streets ever, that you couldnt get out of. it took us about 30 mins to actually find the way out. the dinosaur museum was shut. owner of a motel we were trying to take pictures of was slightly rude to us. there were no towns of note. at all. we only passed about 4 towns, and had to make a major detour to get to them. on a more positive note, we did see some tanks. oh, and the john stewart show.

we are now in arizona. saw the pertified forest painted desert and a meteor crator. tomorrow is the grand canyon, hoover dam, then vegas. we are gonna gamble the car, lose it, then win it back again. could be banter.

that is me for now. will be back soon,
Jonny "so far ahead its unbeliveable" Kirk.

[davidlowry]

Route 66 trip is over, I'm back home and JK is in Boston; who KNOWS what he could possibly be doing in <a href="http://www.cheersboston.com/">Boston</a>.

As a follow up to Jonny's above: yes, New Mexico sucks, the <a href="http://www.countyline.com/">County Line</a> BBQ place was <a href="http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=21">excellent</a> and <a href="">Katie</a> the waitress was indeed quite baffled at our disbelief of the size of the chocolate cake!

Arizona is a pretty nice place - Grand Canyon, plus the petrified and painted stuff. Didn't get to Hoover dam cos someone was inconsiderate and crashed their car so it was closed for two days. The place we stayed in and posted that email from was nice - friendly folk. It's called the Travel Inn and is in Flagstaff, AZ.

Vegas is a dirty (though very clean) hole, 200 miles from anywhere; expensive and tacky. Caesers Palace really is opulent and huge. We got lost in it trying to find the FAO Schwartz (who can guess what challenge that one was for) and nearly got thrown out of that area because we were wearing 'shorts and tennis shoes' and approaching the scary loud R&B club.

Driving through the desert wasn't so bad. Not least because driving around vegas took at least two hours more than planned (strip is huge and the whole North/South thing on a circular road is just stupid - plus lack of road signs ("here's a hint, you guess the rest") which Jonny will I'm sure post/rant about at some point. (which meant it was night time..)

Los Angeles is a scary place - they have a CSI Series dedicated to it remember; but Santa Monica is lovely, a couple of hundred folk move there every week which explains all the homeless people which is sad to see and a lot more visible than at home. But we DID find the end of route 66 point after three days of not looking in the right place! Swimming at Malibu beach was class, Jonny was scared of sharks or jellyfish or something and didn't really get in. Wuss.

Oh yeah - now that we're home I at least can reveal what the rental car was: Mazda 6 V6 3.0 24c with Semi-automatic gearbox. WOW! We asked for (and paid for) an A-Class (lowest) type and this was a C-4 Class; which I think is the highest below Premium brands and things like Roadsters. Beats any of the 1.0/1.2 litres that I've driven before!! Nice of Jonny to tell me yesterday how he had never driven on a Motorway before the I-60 south of Illinois!!

[Jonny Kirk]

i can now reveal that i have revealed to my parents all of the bad stuff that happened. including:

being quarantined for 48 hours on the cruise ship
worst meal ever in santa fe (actually, the aeroplane food on the way back was worse)
flippin new mexico and their drivers
driving on 6 lanes (count em!) in LA
LA's crazy drivers
nearly dying trying to take a left at albuquerque
the phantom psycho driver (also in new mexico) who appeared from NOWHERE blaring his horns from the darkness, completely tailgating me. as i attempted to get out of his way (on a massively wide road might i add) he just drove even closer, still blaring his horns. i swear he would have killed me had we not been in a public area.
the fact we shot shotguns (i didnt add how many rounds we fired (what was the final count dave?), but i did stress that mel's dad is a gun safety instructor
the fact we had a 3 litre car (it had a spoiler).
walking round scary las vegas at night
the fact that my limo and helicopter ride combined was sold out.
the fact that daves card did not work ANYWHERE. remember - you still owe me money for paying for the car. plus the whole incident of not getting the car we wanted, cos we couldnt use a debit card.
dave not being insured at all due to the fact that you cant insure 2 under-25s on the same car at the same time.

no secrets in my house.

that makes it sound like the whole trip was bad, but all the badness was concentrated around new mexico. my only solace was a little friendly dog who came over to say hello as i was watching a freight train go past. and why were we stopped? it was cos we were in a place called ... Newkirk. the only thing there is a post office, and thats it. it was originally the place we were gonna try and stay at.

also not meaning to scare dave, i have only driven 3 times since i passed my driving test 4 years ago, all in cars that i was not insured on (and only for about 10 mins). once was on private land though, so thats ok.

now that all the badness is out of the way, here is a (possibly partial) list of things i did out there.

fired a gun (dont read this mum)
go on a cruise
shoot a 3 pointer
play shuffleboard
survive the bermuda triangle (i took no less than 4 boat trips over it)
take a left at albuquerque
get buried in sand (at Malibu beach)
have a boston tea party
visit cheers
have a boston tea party (i bought balloons). also recreated the event. party was on my own though, but i had fun. i really should have been packing to go home, so it was a sort of joint celebration of the end of my america trip
play a giant floor piano
secretly top up someones parking meter (i've just been reliably informed that this is illegal in america. crap.)
go to a crap museum (the barb wire museum - actually wasn't that bad)
do route 66
go on an american road trip.

prob some more that i cant think of at the minute.

when i was young i nearly drowned after a waterslide incident. i went down a black waterslide, ended up turning around backwards . the scenery suddenly turned from black to bright blue. i was out of my depth, and clambered to the surface, clinging onto the ropes at the side until my dad rescued me. i have a fear of being out of my depth, and have a healthy fear of things that can kill me, including nasty sea creatures (just look at what happened to steve irwin), being swept out to sea, and strong undercurrents, of which Malibu had many. thanks dave for picking on that fear.

(does he look guilty yet? good).

i took over 1400 pictures. site updates could take a while. not that i will be using all of them though.

i have been awake for over 30 hours. i have had 2 all nighters already this week. i am about to collapse. though knowing me i'll go and watch a movie or something now...

[davidlowry]

I cried I felt so guilty. Hey at least I only teased and didn't try and pull you in or anything! Good thing we didn't go surfing maybe... Yes I still owe you some Squid! :-) Ah it's nice to be back to Student Land. Oh, apart from the lectures and all that. and the assignemnt for the FIRST DAY!? AH! Work..