Thread: Ramblings From The USA - 1

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This sounds like a great roadtrip! You've hit some unique and cool spots on your journey. I'd love to explore the north east. Are you getting in alot of fall colors with trees turning, or is it a bit early yet? It's getting cool at night in California, but still hot day times

Originally Posted by johnboy

Saturday 19th September.

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Okay; truck off to Gillette’s Castle, 67 River Rd., East Haddam, 06423
Gillette himself was a movie star in the 1920s and made a heap of dosh…so he proceeded to spend it.
On building himself a castle.

If you’re thinking about visiting it…don’t.
It’s gross.
It epitomises excessive money and an utter and absolute lack of taste.
It’s worse than gross…it’s an obscenity.
The five minute ferry trip was of far more value.

There's a lesson there, Johnboy; I won't speculate on what it might be because different folks have different strokes, but think we can always take something from everything we do. Glad you enjoyed the ferry ride, short as it was.

.

Originally Posted by rspears

Hopefully you noticed a bit more "quality" (no pun intended) in the lodgings for the added price...

No.
The 'Quality' part of the name was definitely false advertising; it was no better than anything we've stayed in so far.

Originally Posted by stovens

This sounds like a great roadtrip! You've hit some unique and cool spots on your journey. I'd love to explore the north east. Are you getting in alot of fall colors with trees turning, or is it a bit early yet? It's getting cool at night in California, but still hot day times

Thanks Steve...we're a bit early for any spectacular colour changes in the leaves, but some are starting to turn, and it's becoming obvious that it would be bloody gorgeous to see in full fall.

Originally Posted by Matthyj

Johnboy, I am a bee keeper and when the bees start putting on honey from goldenrod you might as well scrap it by feeding it back to them in the winter, the honey smells like dirty gym socks, and taste worse. Now I know its in full bloom time to collect the honey and hope they haven't started storing it yet!

In light of what you said I went out this morning, found me some goldenrod, pulled it, (it has a fibrous root system as against a tap root like a carrot,) crushed it, (flowers and leaves,) smelt it, and yes; it's not the most salubrious of smells.
Not too bad when done like that, but when concentrated, as in honey...yuck!

Sunday 20th September.

A bit slow getting away this morning; it’s like trying to push water uphill with a rake with this lot.
But we were on the road a bit after nine…crikey, I’d been up and about since 5:15.
If I’d been on my own I would’ve been away by 7:00 at the latest.
Headed for Cape Cod and the Sandwich Glass Museum, 129 Main St. Sandwich MA 02563
Coming out of Groton at Clarks Falls I noticed where someone had been clearing some light bush with a digger (what the locals in their lack of knowledge apparently call a track-hoe,) and had gone about it all wrong.
Limbs had been torn off before the stump was out, and there had been no effort made to windrow at all.
It’s a bit of a blow to the pride to realise you’re an anachronism…something from the past with skills that are just not known today.
And not often needed.

Got to Sandwich at lunch-time, so ate at the restaurant just past the Glass Museum.
A good feed at a reasonable price…recommended.
Then to the Dexters Grist Mill, a water-wheel powered mill that has been in this spot since the late 1600s.
Rebuilt in the 60s – 70s with period correct (but not original) timbers.
It’s an undershot, with an extremely short (8 – 10ft?) race from the mill pond, so there was very little (if any,) control of the flow and therefore the speed of the wheel.
But his is a good place!
They set it running, and allowed me to crawl around seeing just exactly which does what and what does which.
I seem to remember it was $6 per head; money well spent.
Scoring an 8+

So…across the road to the Glass Museum.
This is purely get-‘em-in-and-gut-’em.
You pay to enter the place to peruse their wares…the prices are well out of the range of these poor peasants from the bush…for sure there was stuff available for relatively low prices but it was tat.
Sideshow tat you’d find at the fair.
Although there was a glass-blowing exhibition thrown in with the entry fee.
That turned in to a debacle…okay; so perhaps he had a bad hair day…we all do occasionally.
But when I’m paying to watch you create something…and you don’t…not good.
Score 4-

And on to Orleans to book in to ‘Olde (sic) Tavern Motel’ for a couple of nights while we explore the area.

While I typed this up SWMBO and Rick went shopping.
She came back with three bottles of Arrogant Bastard for me.
I think She’s a keeper.

Rang Mike, 34_40 from CHR, and have arranged to meet to-morrow.
All good.

It's a bit late to be mentioning it at this point, but since you're all family an alternative to booking two rooms at every stop might be to move up to something like Comfort Inn & Suites, and book a suite that has a separate bedroom with a sleeper couch out in the common area, along with a bit more of a kitchenette. Might not save much in total cost if you're saying that the Quality Inn was twice the cost of what you've been paying. Just a thought, and this is after I had the experience of paying more than 2X normal rates in Ottawa, $140/night all in with a two night minimum just because they knew they could get it for the big car show weekend.... I'm still fuming a bit with that turn.

Johnboy, it's a trackhoe everywhere in the US. If it's on the back of a tractor, it's a backhoe. If I had asked my pipeline contractor to bring out a digger, he probably would have showed up with a laborer and a spade.

Johnboy, I just discovered that gooseberry ranches are legal in NZ! Wow, that explains why everyone I meet from NZ is always smiling.

bad when done like that, but when concentrated, as in honey...yuck!

Johnboy, After hearing from you the goldenrod was fully in bloom I pulled off some honey today, I caught a small whiff of dirty socks out of one frame so they (the bees) are packing it in, you might have saved me a 1/2 gallon of good honey by not mixing it!
On another note I love your journal you are writing, it gives us a great take on what some of us are to familiar with and never have looked at through "visitors' eyes. You have also refrained from letting us know how egotistical and arrogant our culture and people can be as i have heard from other tourist in the past!

Monday 21st September.

Meandered around a bit first thing this morning; primarily looking for a set of side-cutters (me, toe and fingernail clippers,) and a car phone charger. (Rick.) But at the same time taking in the scenery if the opportunity presented.
Had a good look at some of the eastern beaches…a pretty wild and exposed coastline.
Finally found a hardware store, and asked for side-cutters.
And got a blank look in response.
“Side-cutters; wee snippy things for wire and stuff.”
A light came on…”Go over there where the paint aisle is, down the far end are all the gardening tools.”
Sheesh.
I finally found them at the exact opposite side and end of the store.
Couldn’t find a charger for Rick though.

So headed off, ultimately for Acushnet, but initially for lunch at Centreville, where someone has set up a pie shop making real pies the way Kiwis do, with meat in them, not fruit; but bacon and egg, liver and bacon, steak and kidney, mince…yum!
Only to find when we got there that the restaurant that served portion sized pieces was closed after their summer season, and the shop sold only family sized pies…enough for ten or twelve people.
Which would be A) too big, B) would need a micro-wave to heat, and C) would need a large fridge to save the excess.
So we crossed the road and ate Chinese.
While we were waiting for it to be served I wandered outside for a ciggy, and got talking to a woman who’d come out of a nearby office for the same thing.
She asked me for my thoughts as an outsider what I thought of the state of America.
“Quite frankly; it’s in the doldrums.”
She agreed.
Turns out she’s a land agent, and went on to say that the shonky financial dealings of the banks and sub-prime markets four or so years ago had hit the middle and lower classes of America really hard.
“But there is recovery,” she said,:it may not yet be too obvious; but as a land agent I’m seeing it.”
She also said that the people (bankers etc,) who instigated the whole sorry mess should never be allowed to breed…and she had a quick and simple way of ensuring that…

So on to Acushnet.
And saw one of the funniest things ever.
A gaggle of forty – fifty geese decided to cross the main road through the village,
So they did.
Solemnly.
And in single file.
Totally oblivious to the absolute chaos they were creating to traffic, which was brought to a complete standstill.
It just looked so very, very funny.
And so on to find Mike (34_40) and Chris…and couldn’t. The street address we had didn’t make sense to us or Lucy.
“There’s a local cop refuelling his car, quick; pull in and I’ll ask him!”
So we did and I did.
Had him confused for a bit; but he finally worked it out, told us to follow him, and he’d point us in the right direction.
Which he proceeded to do; thank you Acushnet constabulary!

And so, eventually, we got to meet Mike and Chris, Mr and Mrs 34_40, along with Fiona and Meowmeow.
Also got to meet the car Mike calls ‘Citation’; ‘cos that’s what he gets virtually every time he takes it out!
A beautiful machine and a credit to him and his attitude and philosophy, which is much the same as ours; cars are built to be driven, and if they get stone-chipped, so be it. Those aren’t imperfections, they’re mile medals; medals for being driven, not trailered.
Driving around here over the last couple of days I had noticed some paddocks that had me confused as to why they were contoured as they were, dead flat and border-dyked.
Today it was explained; they’re contoured for cranberries. But there’s no money to be made out of them at the moment. The big corporations are controlling the market to the detriment of the little guy.
It’s the same the whole world over ain’t it?
Thanks for a great afternoon people, meeting with great people, gawking at great machinery…what else could ya want?
And so headed back to our motel, a beer, and bed.
A good day.

Originally Posted by Henry Rifle

Johnboy, it's a trackhoe everywhere in the US. If it's on the back of a tractor, it's a backhoe. If I had asked my pipeline contractor to bring out a digger, he probably would have showed up with a laborer and a spade.

Ha-ha!
Yeah Jack, I knew that...I was being facetious...what's called taking the wee-wee.

Originally Posted by robot

Johnboy, I just discovered that gooseberry ranches are legal in NZ! Wow, that explains why everyone I meet from NZ is always smiling.

Umm...you may be confused...our type of gooseberries go into a pie...not rolled into rice paper.

Originally Posted by johnboy

Ha-ha!
Yeah Jack, I knew that...I was being facetious...what's called taking the wee-wee.

Another fine example of the drastic differences in our slang terms! "Taking the wee-wee" in some parts of the world is to be faceetious, or to make fun of something in a non-offensive manner; but around here folks will think immediately of a parent asking their small toddler if he/she needs to "go potty", or use the toilet facilities - "Do you need to go wee-wee, Billy?" They shoulda' put that one on the shirt, jb! Taking The Wee-Wee!

Originally Posted by Matthyj

Johnboy, After hearing from you the goldenrod was fully in bloom I pulled off some honey today, I caught a small whiff of dirty socks out of one frame so they (the bees) are packing it in, you might have saved me a 1/2 gallon of good honey by not mixing it!
On another note I love your journal you are writing, it gives us a great take on what some of us are to familiar with and never have looked at through "visitors' eyes. You have also refrained from letting us know how egotistical and arrogant our culture and people can be as i have heard from other tourist in the past!

We haven't found the average American to be arrogant or egotistical, in fact, quite the reverse; helpful and courteous.
It's just that with their ears accustomed to their accented twang they have trouble understanding our un-accented correct English!