Hitting the Road
Halloween is a big deal in the USA, as we discovered on Friday when we turned up to a bar, dressed normally, only to discover that everybody was in fancy dress! Not to worry, we still had a good night and did a tour of Rochester’s finest night spots – Gilligans, Kathys and a brief stint in CJ’s; until we realized that we were the youngest there by at least 20 years.
Ironically, low calorie light beer is very popular here. In England we refer to this as “water” but fortunately I have been introduced to a great white beer called “Blue Moon.” You need to be careful mind…the large glasses are definitely more than a pint! We were briefly talking to a “security” guy in Gilligans, who was only identifiable as a security person by his t-shirt. We mentioned how we had came dressed as “European Guys” to which he replied “Wow, you have really convincing accents” and then went on to say how everyone from Europe sat down with a straight back, with their hands on their knees, drank tea and spoke like Hugh Grant. We all had quite a chuckle at that. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that there’s more to Europe than England. We had a great night (a good band were playing in Kathys), but everything shut at 2, and with the nearest place open after 2 over an hours’ drive away, we decided to call it a night.
Yesterday we took a road trip, and I had the pleasure of driving us North of Rochester up highway 63 to Lake City, home of Lake Pepin which is the widest naturally occurring part of the famous Mississippi River. From there we continued to Red Wing, which was a strange little town with apparent Native Indian history.
After that we crossed the Mississippi into Wisconsin, and followed the Mississippi south on State Road 35 (at 55 mph…) via Bay City and Stockholm (population 97!) before continuing on to Nelson, at which point we crossed the Mississippi again into Wabasha, and then headed back via Kellogg, Plainview and Potsdam before joining Highway 52 which took us back into Rochester. It was a great drive, very scenic – lots of corn fields, and it’s very flat! All in all it was around a 4 hour trip and a good experience of those real, small American towns (some of which are called Cities….) you see on the TV.
I found a motorbike license plate lying by the side of the road, so I have claimed it as a souvenir. I did quite well in the drivers seat considering it’s the first proper driving I’ve done here….I wonder how many traffic violations I racked up! Fortunately there no police on hand to make me spread ‘em for any violations I might have made. Speed limits vary from 55 on single lane roads, to 60, 65 and 70 on highways/Interstates.
On the way back we decided to call in at the local Outback Steakhouse. Hell of a steak, but once again the portion was too big, even though we shared the starters! It only came to around 30 dollars each, which is very reasonable indeed.
Today has been pretty laid back. We took a trip to an outlet centre, which among others had a Nike and a Levi’s outlet. Obviously I had to take advantage, and I returned with a new pair of Nike trainers, a Nike 6.0 jacket, a pair of Levi’s and a Columbia hoody….and even though the exchange rate is crap at the minute, this totaled just over £70 (not so long ago it would have been £55). Quite unbelievable really. Some of the stuff you could get was amazing, proper Columbia winter/ski jackets from $100! I also saw a pair of UK size 17 trainers in the Nike store….talk about canoes!
Took another trip to Walmart to pick up some supplies, and had a look at the sports section, where you can buy yourself a rifle and a whole lot of bullets….I’m also glad I have a habit of reading the nutrition labels on food because there is some seriously bad stuff on the shelves here!
Anyway, I’m going to get back to my Coors Light and one of the greatest movies ever….Terminator 2.
Bye for now.
