| | Chicago was wonderful. The women Scott and I saw were gorgeous (there, there - easy now Colonel). The view from the Sears Tower was incredible and the architecture was stunning. The meal at the Greek restaurant was a visual and taste sensation - and how about that Greek beer??!!
While Pete will agree that Holly was a hotty and her friend Kim was not too bad either, it's not such a shame the girls didn't come with us to Deja Vu as the girls there were hot, raunchy and packed against us like fish in a can. OK, poor taste analogy. It was a pity that a lack of sleep from driving until 4am the night before and the previous three nights out in Boston and Portsmouth, New Hampshire had taken a toll on me and we couldn't stick around. Who knows what I said as I fell asleep, mid sentence, while answering Pete's question as to whether there were any other straight SOLOists in NZ. But in America, who knew what I was saying half the time anyway?!
I made the 1,000 mile drive to Denver the next day, doing 85 mph from 8:30am Sunday, Central Time to 12:30am Monday, Mountain Time. Did you know they make 89 Octane ethanol gas from corn in Iowa? It's cheaper than the normal 87 Octane petrol. I thought Iowa's state motto should be "We do amazing things with corn." That was until I saw the phrase on the billboard for an adult entertainment truckers' stop.
The next day was cloudless and I drove along the I-70 through the Rockies, not getting under way until after noon as I slept through most of Monday morning. The view was all green and blue with the exception of the inside of Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel at 11,000 feet and my heart was singing as I roared through the canyons. I went through the Grand Junction and on to Utah where I went off the I-70 to scenic Moab before returning, driving past the junction with the I-15 at dusk (which is beautiful in the desert) and spending the night in Beaver. Yes, Beaver, the town. The next day I drove down to Vegas (I got off the I-15 to go to the Grand Canyon but it was going to be too far out of my way) where I detoured to the Hoover Dam and spent some time swimming and sunbathing at Lake Mead before driving on to LA.
Alec dropped me at James Kilbourne's the next morning where I enjoyed two hearty meals and a feast of Lanza and Opera singing - joining James in singing the English translation of Fenunculi Fenuncula. We were later joined by Alec and Barbara (and by Sergio briefly) and the conversation and alcohol flowed into the wee small hours of the next day, which Alec and (according to her email) Barbara slept through most of. Late in the afternoon Alec and I enjoyed Baja Fresh burritos and the Getty (the architecture of which and view from which were amazing and I got to see William Bouguereau's 1880 painting,Young Girl Defending Herself Against Cupid (http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/image.asp?id=1058 - definitely a highlight).
After returning to Alec's I did some washing, packed my stuff, signed over the van to Alec's mum and took off (late) to catch my flight (which also took off late). As Alec noted, I missed Friday July 22nd and arrived Saturday at 5am. I had two hours sleep when I got home then caught up with family and went partying with flatmates, after a jetlag-induced two hour sleep from 8:30pm in my old flat and with the help of two coffees and two vodka red bulls. We returned from the party at 2am but I was awake three hours later as my biological clock had not reverted from LA time. Hence the snoring at Cresswell's.
The time I spent at Ashley's was great fun but tamer than most would expect. I wish I could have spent more time with Ash and Meg and with the Chicago crew but the 90 days just flew by. Next stop is Dunedin to catch up with family, then after running three Libertarianz candidates' campaigns I will take off to Sydney to work for a year and then move on to London. If I could work out an easy way to move to the US I would be back in a flash.
|
|
