New plans

To whom ever it may concern …

I got some new plans for travelling this summer and will kick it off in the beginning of July by crossing Western Europe and going to Spain from Austria. The destination is Narón in Galicia and the stages in between will be Monte Carlo, Nice, and Bilbao.

Monte Carlo will probably just serve as a stop for a coffee break and I’ll do the overnight stay in Nice then. The next day I’ll cross through southern France and enter into Spain and the basque region. I plan to spend the night in Bilbao then and go on to Narón along the coast next day, where I’ll work for 3,5 weeks.

On going back I’ll stop in Offenburg, Germany for the youth congress Teenstreet before I go back home. For August I’m then planning a trip to Scandinavia, whereby I will go through all of Germany and Denmark and cross over to Sweden via the Oresund bridge from Copenhagen to Malmö. I’d like to visit some friends of mine in Stockholm and Gävle and then probably go on to Norway.

At the moment I’m not sure if I should return from there or if I should take a ferry over to Scotland and further on to Ireland to visit my cousin, who’s working there at a nice 5-star-castle

Hope I’ll have some nice travelling and Gods’ guidance on the way.

Be blessed you all out there!
greez,
Gergi

km 16???

So this is my last blog entry from my travels through North America. Tomorrow evening I will finally fly out from JFK International Airport in New York City.

The last few days I spent to further explore North Americas largest city going up to the Bronx and to Brooklyn. I had a look at the Yankee stadium and I walked over Brooklyn bridge. On Tuesday it was St. Patrick’s day and I watched the parade on 5th Avenue. I also went up the Rockefeller centre this day to enjoy the great view from up there (which is much better than from the Empire State Building I think). On Wednesday I explored the neighbourhood around the hostel, including the world’s largest Anglican cathedral St. John the Divine, which still remains unfinished after more than 100 years of construction. After that I went for coffee and cake at Café Lalo (Meg Ryan waits there for her blind date in “You got mail”).

In the evening I went to Madison Square Garden to a NBA basketball game. The New York Knicks played the New Jersey Nets. In the end the Knicks lost by 26 points (89:115) and where hooted by their own fans. It as really not their best day I guess, but also Vince Carter from New Jersey played a really good game. Generally I have to say I was a bit disappointed – I had expected way more in terms of atmosphere, etc. My advice: if you can choose between a NBA basketball game and a NHL hockey game, go to see hockey – it’s way more exciting!!!

Thursday I just spent for relaxing at the hostel as it was raining outside anyway. I sorted my stuff, got my ticket for the airport transfer and now I’m writing these last lines about my trip. Now coming back to the title of this blog: In the last 3 months during my trip I’ve driven 15,622 kms in my good old Honda nicknamed “Sofie” (cause she was the first one asking me what name the car has). But that still doesn’t explain the title does it? Well I’m quite sure that I at least walked 378 kms during my trip as well to get to a total of over 16,000. For example:. I walked more than 55 kms in Las Vegas alone – 6 times up&down the strip starting at the hostel – one way approximately 9.5 kms. Another example: I walked home on New Year’s Day in the morning from Downtown Vancouver to Janet’s place – approximately 12 kms. And believe me, I walked a lot more during those 3 months.

Well, some more figures about my trip: driving 15,622 kms took me more than 9 days and 14 hours on the road in total, which is an average speed of 75 km/h. It took me 40 days of my trip to cross the American continent (leaving the Pacific Ocean in San Diego and reaching the Atlantic Ocean in Boston). The longest drive for one day was from Winter Park, Colorado to Omaha, Nebraska with 986 kms. In total I spent $104.15 (Canadian) and $560,38 (US) for gasoline – almost half of that amount I covered with selling my car in the end for 280$. In total I spent about $650 in Canada and $3,700 in the United States.

My trip was 92 days of which I couchsurfed 61 days and spent 29 days in various hostels. For 2 nights I stayed at motels (1 in Fort Bragg, California and in Page, Arizona). For overnight stays I spent approx. $1,000 in total (Canadian & US, including parking fees), which means I needed about $11 a day for a place to sleep.

30 days of my trip I was in Canada in 3 different provinces (British Columbia in the beginning & Ontario & Québec in February & March). The other 62 days I spent in the US going staying in 12 different states (and the District of Columbia) and going through 8 more (Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia). The state I spent the most time in was California where I stayed for 18 days; the city where I stayed the longest was New York in the end with 8 days. In total I stayed overnight in 27 different cities.

I visited numerous National Parks, which I think I can’t remember all. The ones sticking to my mind are the Redwood forests near Santa Cruz, Mt. Diablo, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Arches National Park, Death Valley and Niagara Falls. Being out in the nature I also reached the highest point I have ever been to in my life with the peak at Mary Jane in Winter Park @ 12,000 feet (3,657 m). I also skied for some days – 7 in total (3 in Whistler, 4 in Winter Park).

Visiting the cities I went up several interesting buildings by elevator. The most interesting one (although not the tallest) was the Gateway Arch in St. Louis (192 m). The tallest one was Sears Tower in Chicago (99th floor – 400 m). The most spectacular view I enjoyed was offered by the Rockefeller centre in New York. Of course the Empire State Building is higher with the disadvantage of not seeing it when you’re on it

The largest cities on my trip were New York City (8.2 million city/18.8 million metro) in the US and Toronto (2.5 million/5.5 million) in Canada. The smallest towns I stayed overnight were Winter Park (Colorado, about 700) in the US and Whistler (British Columbia, about 9,500) in Canada.

I had lots of fun on my trip although there also were some boring hours (especially when driving) and others that really sucked (locking my keys inside the car in Chicago/being accused of drug trafficking at the US border). I also made some new friends at some places and I hope to see them soon again.

Well, and tomorrow my trip comes to an end. I will fly out from JFK international airport at 9.30 pm. The flight goes via London and if everything goes according to schedule I should arrive in Munich at 12.30 p.m. where I hope to meet my brother Willi for picking me up

I’m really looking forward to coming home again and I can’t wait to see all of you again. I wish you all the best and thank everyone who read my blog and especially those who left a comment I hope you enjoyed my travel stories.

Let me close with the words of the german aphorist Anke Maggauer-Kirsche: “Every journey finishes at our self”.

May God bless you!
Gerhard

km 15622

Well, well – I think this one will be the second last entry in my blog about my travels through North America.

Being in Washington on the 2nd day I went to the National Air and Space museum which was really interesting and just hang out in the evening watching the basketball games and listening to the funny comments of the hostel manager, e.g. two Chinese guys arriving and each one asking him for a city map, when he replies: isn’t 1 enough? I thought China also has the 1-child-policy, so why isn’t 1 map enough? – maybe that was just funny in the very moment The last day in Washington I again went downtown to the Smithsonian Museums and visited the National Museum about Native Americans.

On Thursday I left at 6.45 in the morning (to escape rushhour) and headed for New York City where I arrived around 12.30 p.m. I checked in at the HI hostel and just as I started asking myself how I would get into contact with Jamie (my host from St. Louis who wanted to buy my car), she stands right in front of me and asks me how I’m doing. I then with a heavy heart sold her my good old Honda for 280 $ … 19 years old, 398972 kms … it had done an awesome job – thx Sofie

In the evening I wanted to meet up in Soho with Dan, who I had met in Philly and who works in New York, but first I celebrated my arrival in NY by going to a good Italian restaurant where I had dinner for 60$. Then I went to the place Dan had told me to meet at, but as I he had written another mail with another location I was waiting at the wrong one and we didn’t meet – well, my fault.

On Friday I took the “train” (subway) down to Lower Manhatten and took a ferry to Liberty Island and Ellis Island. It’s really impressive to see the Statue of Liberty in reality actually … Ellis island is very interesting too, with all the history of immigration to the US. Afterwards I went to explore lower Manhatten with Wall Street and the World Trade center site where heavy construction is going on. I then went on to Midtown Manhatten to have a look at Grand Central Station, Madison Square Garden & Times Square. In the evening I took a ride up to the top of the Empire State Building to take some nice pictures of the big apple.

On Saturday I left the hostel around noon, took a walk through Central Park and walked along 5th Avenue along the museum mile to have a look at the Guggenheim museum and the Metropolitan Art Museum. Walking along 5th I discovered the “Neue Galerie” New York, which exhibits German & Austrian art, amongst others also Adele Bloch Bauer I by Gustav Klimt. I then walked on to the Apple Store, which is probably the coolest you can find anywhere and to Rockefeller Plaza. In the evening I also bought a ticket for Wednesday’s NBA game New York Knicks vs. New Jersey Nets and I’m really looking forward to that one.

Yesterday, Sunday, I took the train to Queens to Flushing Meadows Park, where I watched lots of Hispanics playing soccer and talked to a nice Mexican guy who thought that I was a talent scout DDD Flushing Meadows Park is the site of 2 past World Fairs and a really nice place where lots of cultures meet. I also went to the Queens Museum of Art there, where a huge model of New York City can be seen. After some more walking around I took the train to North Brooklyn where some couchsurfers had invited me for dinner. Markus, from Vienna, was the chef for the evening and prepared some really good Tiroler Knödelsuppe and I helped his 2 hosts Marc & Guillaume setting up some of their IKEA furniture as they had just moved in. After some beers and a nice evening I took the train back to the hostel where I ended up watching Spiderman 3 on a big screen and finally went to bed at 4 a.m.

And today? … well, I got up at 9.15 had some breakfast and now I think I take a train up North to the Bronx to have a look at their neighbourhoods.

It’s my 5th last day now and I really look forward to coming home in a few days. God has blessed me so far on my journey and he may bless you all!

greez,
Gerhard

km 15211

Uuuuh, 11 days left

After I left Montréal on 3rd March in the morning I headed for the US border. This time it took me even longer than usually cause the CBP officer was convinced that I was carrying drugs and searched my car. Of course he didn’t find any. I then continued my journey to Boston. On the way I went through 2 other states, Vermont & New Hampshire – the latter being a really pretty one with at least 1 nice ski hill

In Boston (exactly in Somerville) I met up with Emrah, my host there. He originates from Turkey and came to the US some years ago for studying and now working. In the evening a bunch of friends of his came over and we had a little party at his place. We then intended to go to a club together with the metro, but they somehow “forgot” me at the subway station and so I followed them with Emrah’s roommate Ben by car. In the meantime Emrah went back with the metro to search for me and I met him again when we came back home.

The next day I went downtown with the metro to explore Boston. It is a really nice city with lots of old red brick buildings. Especially Quincy market, Beacon Hill and the area around the wharfs (harbour) is pretty nice. I followed a path through the city which is called Freedrom Trail which passes by all the sites around downtown. Afterwards I went to Harvard University to have a walk around there. In the evening I went to the movies to see “The International” starring Clive Owen. I think it’s a pretty good movie and I like how it turns out in the end.

On Thursday I went out to Provincetown on Cape Cod to have a better view of the Atlantic Ocean than from Boston It was really windy out there but definitly worth the drive (but I think it’s a lot better in summer). In the evening, when I came back to Somerville, I went out for a drink with Emrah and his girlfriend. On Friday morning I then left Emrah, who was a great host and headed for Philly.

I arrived in the early afternoon and met up with Grace at her apartment (a really cool place ) We then went for a coffee at the “Mugshot” a close coffee shop and Grace showed me around the neighbourhood including the Philly art museum and the park at Lemon Hill. We then met up with her boyfriend Dave (he’s in his final year of studying photography) and her sister Gabrielle to go out for dinner at a greek restaurant. Dan, Gabrielle’s boyfriend, met us there. After dinner we went to a house party at friends of Grace while she took the longest way possible to their house to show me all of Philadelphia We hang out there for some time and went back home afterwards.

The next morning (noon) we all together went to the Italian market, basically just having a look around and drinking some awesome Espresso. Grace then went to work and Dave arranged his belongings in his new apartment, while Dan & Gabrielle went to New York (Dan works there). So I explored Philadelphia on my own, took a lot of pictures and had Philadelphia Cheese Steak. Altough it has nothing to do with a steak in the conventional sense it was one of the best things I had since I’m in the States.

I walked around the city until 10 p.m. and then met Grace and Dave at her workplace – the “Mix” pizza & bar on Chestnut street. I had a couple of beers there – thanks to Grace they were very cheap and we finally went home around 3.30 a.m. On Sunday, after giving Grace a little thank you (a gift voucher for the coffee shop) I left towards Washington D.C. Grace also gave me some coffee on the way in her coffee mug – thanks sooooo much. She will definitly be welcome at any place I ever am able to be a host to her.

Arriving in Washington around 4 p.m. I took a walk to Georgetown (the shopping and restaurant area next to the Potomac river) and the university there. The security guard at the university’s library told me that he has ancestors from Austria, who emigrated to Brazil 5 generations ago. In the evening I went to the apartment of Jordan who was supposed to be my host in D.C. When I got there he was not there (he told me that he would come home late) and so I met his housemates first, who somehow gave me a feeling of not being welcome. As he did not come back home until quarter to 11 I decided to go to the HI hostel for that night, cause I had no good feeling with his housemates.

Today I went downtown Washington to explore the numerous monuments there. I walked along New Hampshire Ave. where a lot of African and Central & South American embassies are located, and had a good-morning-coffee at Starbucks. Then I continued to National Mall to see the White House first. Unfortunately Obama didn’t invite me in

I then walked west towards the Potomac river to see the Lincoln Memorial there, which is really huge and impressive (and I somehow really start liking “Abe”). Walking along the river I passed by the Franklin D. Roosevelt memorial (hew was the only American president elected for more than 2 times – he was elected for 4 terms) and then reached the Thomas Jefferson memorial. Afterwards I passed by the Washington monument (the huge obelisk) and then walked all the way up to the US State Capitol (about 4 kms from Lincoln Memorial). On my way back to the accommodation (now the Washington International Student Center) I passed by the Canadian embassy and I hope to find the Austrian one as well before I leave.

In the evening I ran (yes I really ran, cause I just had 10 minutes for more than 2 kms) to see “Watchmen” at the cinema. It was quite good but didn’t really excite me. Afterwards I bought myself a huge piece of pizza for all the walking today (almost 30 kms) before I came back to the hostel where I write these lines from.

So, it’s 2 more days in Washington now and then 8 in New York and my 3-months adventure will be over. I really look forward to come home again now!!!

C u in a few days.
Be blessed,
Gergi

km 13510

So, what happened since my last blog entry …

On Wednesday evening I went to a pub with Stephanie (my host in Ottawa) and her friend Claire (very nice girl ) to celebrate my birthday. We went to the Chateau Lafayette where John Carroll, a blues musician, performed live. We had a couple of beers there and had a good time. Stephanie went home earlier cause she had a mid-term exam the next day while I and Claire stayed until the pub closed (3 a.m. or so). We then also went back to Stephanie’s place, where we kissed good-bye .

The next day I went to see a little bit of Ottawa and I walked around the city to the house of parliament (where I also watched the politicians for a couple of minutes) and the museum of civilization. I then made a tour at the Hi Jail hostel which was a jail/goal until 1972. The cells were so small you couldn’t even fit a bed properly inside. In the evening we wanted to go ice-skating on Rideau channel, but couldn’t as the weather got to warm and authorities closed the channel for the public. So I just relaxed for the evening inside. On Friday I got up late as well and just took a short walk through the city again as the weather was really bad.

I spent the evening with staying inside again watching some TV and waiting for Stephanie, so that we could go to the bar where Claire worked (as I didn’t know where it was). Unfortunately she came not back that evening and so I couldn’t go to visit Claire at her workplace .

Next morning I left around 9-ish from Ottawa and headed for Montréal. I came to Gabrielle’s place around noon and met her and her roommates (Laurent & Kevin) there. I then went downtown to have lunch and meet with Sebastian (roommate of Gabrielle) and his friend Katerine to go for dinner and to a metal concert afterwards at Café Chaos (the place he works). You definitely have to go there if you like metal and go to Montréal . After the concert we went out for the Montréal “All-nighter”, which is an annual festival of arts & music.

We first went folk-dancing at the city-hall, which was a lot of fun. Afterwards we explored “Art Souterrain”, which was a bit “too modern” for my taste At 4 a.m. we went to the Redpath museum at the university and did a nightly tour of the museum equipped with torches – or cell-phones  – to explore the museum in the dark. When we left from the museum around 5 a.m. we decided not to hike up Mont Royal for the sunrise, but to go back home for some sleep. When we finally arrived back home the new day already started, but we just went straight to bed.

On Sunday I got up very late (I think 3 p.m. or so) and then went to do my laundry in the afternoon. In the evening Kevin made some pizza for all and I got to know another friend of them, Gabrielle. We had some beer and talked quite a while and we also watched “the lion king”  the last of us went to bed around 3.15 a.m. On Monday I got up earlier, 11 a.m.  and headed downtown. I first went to Ile Sainte Helene which is situated in the middle of St. Lawrence stream to go to the Biosphére, a museum with an exhibition about the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence stream area.

After that I went for lunch in Old Montréal and I also had some afternoon coffee there. I visited the Basilique Notre Dame de Montréal which is really beautiful. Especially the chapel Sacre Coeur, cause the entire interior is made of wood. Afterwards I hiked up Mont Royal which is the “mountain” in the middle of Montréal to enjoy the view from up there. There’s also a huge illuminated cross on top as well as the Chateau Mont Royal, which looks like it’s used for balls and dancing events. Then I went back to Gabrielle’s place for the last night in the French part of Canada.

Tomorrow I’ll leave to the States again and go to Boston, where I’ll spend 3 days. Wow, it’s really the last 2 1/2 weeks now

I’m so f***ing looking forward to see you all again at home

greez & be blessed,
Gergi

km 13298

Well, what happened the last few days …

On Thursday I first went to the “Whirlpool”, which is a small pond-like bay of the Niagara river and then drove to Caroline’s house to meet her. I also got to know her mum, which talks german quite well and we had some nice conversation. In the evening Caroline introduced me to the TV series “Wonderfalls” which she had on DVD of which only 1 season was completed due to low audience on TV – actually it is a great show and I watched all 13 episodes while I was at Carolines place. Basically it’s about a 24-year old girl with a degree in philosophy which works in a gift shop in Niagara Falls. Someday some of the souvenirs start talking to her and giving her advice what to do … really funny!!!

Friday I went to the falls to see them @ daylight as well and Caroline gave me the advice to visit the flower gardens next to them, which was also quite nice … I spent the evening with watching Wonderfalls again Saturday I went to Niagara-on-the-lake where a wine-tasting was going on in all the wineries, also in 1 where Caroline worked. I tasted some great fruit and red wines and then had dinner @ a nice little restaurant in the town’s centre. I then drove back the Niagara Park Way to Niagara Falls, which was really nice as it started to snow …

Sunday I left at about noon and went towards Toronto thru Hamilton and Missisauga (6th and 9th largest cities of Canada, and nobody really knows them). I parked my car in the garage at Christina’s apartment and went downtown with the subway. I took a walk to CN tower and the harbour and listened to the last few minutes of worshipping at St. Andrews church downtown. Then I got back to Christina’s apartment to meet up with her and we then watched the Academy Awards and I was very happy that Slumdog Millionaire won the prize for best picture.

Next morning I got up early as Christina had to go to work and had no spare keys for the time I was there. That was probably the best that could happen to me as I got to see a beautiful sunrise with Toronto’s skyline in the picture. As the weather was very clear I went to the harbour again to shoot some nice pictures and walked to St. Lawrence market, which was closed unfortunately. I also explored “The Path” which is a shopping area in the underground of downtown Toronto. In the evening I watched the movie “He’s just not that into you” which was a nice pastime …

On Tuesday I again got up early and drove downtown to park my car next to the HI hostel where I would spend the last night. I had breakfast underground somewhere at the path and then went to the Hockey Hall-of-fame which was really cool. Especially because there’s also exhibits about Austria (yeah – there’s actually a sport except skiing where we are good at!!!). I also watched two short movies about the history of the world cup and the Stanley cup. In the evening I went to “The Rex”, a jazz & blues bar to listen to a jam session of 3 jazz-musicians (1 sax, 1 contrabass, 1 drum). Some of the jams where quite good, others just to “experimental” for my taste

I got up early again today to keep the costs for parking in the garage low and left Toronto at 7 a.m. towards Ottawa. I paused near Kingston for 2 hours and made a nap for some time there and finally arrived in Ottawa around 2.30 p.m. As far as I can say from now Ottawa is much more quite than the other cities I’ve been before (except St. Louis maybe), and it has a really nice & cosy touch. There is some rivers (some small, some a bit bigger) running thru the city, which are all frozen by now and people ice-skate thru the city – looks just awesome!

And in a couple of minutes I’ll go out with my host Stephanie and her friends to have some drinks and listen to some Blues somewhere

I wish you all the best at home and everywhere you are – be blessed!

greez,
Gergi

km 12585

Hurray and hello there at home

So, I’ll let you know what I’ve been up to the last few days. The 2nd day I was in Chicago I went downtown with the (E)L – that’s how the call their metro, depending on if it’s the ELevated train or the Loop in downtown. I walked thru millenium park and passed by “the bean” which is a huge sculpture, originally named “Cloud Gate” for whatsoever (look at the 2nd and 20th picture in the Chicago-gallery). Yeaaah – there are new pictures online After that I went to the Field museum at the museum complex to see exhibitions about dinosaurs, the pacific islands, native americans and north-american plant-life. After that I went to see the movie “Slumdog Millionaire” which is just awesome!! In the end I got back to Julie and Keegan’s place at 11.30 p.m.

The next morning was probably the worst experience since I’m on my trip – except the lil’ car accident in L.A. I went to get my car out of a parking garage where I parked it for 2 days for $20 a day how I thought (would be expensive enough anyway). Well, the 20 bucks was just the price for half a day and I ended up paying $80!!! I then drove down to the museum complex again to go to Adler planetarium there. I parked the car and as I went off I realized that I had just locked my keys inside the car (((( I went to the parking lot attendant asking him to call somebody to unlock the car for me which cost me another $65 that morning – you can imagine what my mood was like …

I then went to the Adler planetarium, which was interesting, although not really amazing. I also spend the afternoon there in the café watching the Chicago skyline, cause it seemed to be impossible to get into the Shedd Aquarium where I wanted to go first. It later turned out that the reason why people queued in front of the aquarium was the free general admission. In the evening I went to my new hosts Erin and Lindsey (Keegan & Julie were just able to host me the first 2 days) and Erin cooked some awesome chili, while her neighbours Jim & Chris brought some delicious self-created avocado-bacon-cheese bits. After having had dinner and some “getting-to-know-each-other-a-little-bit” we went to the movies again and watched “the curious case of Benjamin Button” for $3!!! (way the best price this day) The movie was o.k. but honestly: if that movie beats “Slumdong Millionaire” for the “best movie Oscar” something’s entirely wrong with this world.

The next day I went downtown again and tried my luck at the Shedd Aquarium again, but the same as the day before: massive line-up. So I went to the Art Institute Chicago to see exhibitions about photography, “the Chicago plan” and Asian/European furniture between the 17th and 20th century, which was quite interesting. After having a snack at McDonald’s I went up Sears Tower to enjoy the great view from the 99th floor (unfortunately we couldn’t go to the skydeck on the 103rd floor). I then went back to Erin’s place to just hang out a little and when she got back from an evening with her friends (to which she had invited me, but I couldn’t find them in the bar she told me) we talked until 2 a.m. in the morning before we finally went to bed.

The next morning (Monday) I got up pretty early at 6.30 a.m. cause I decided to skip Detroit (couldn’t get a couch there) and go straight on to Niagara Falls. As I also would lose 1 hour thru entering the Atlantic time zone I had to get up that early and left at 7.15 (8.15 respectively). I then drove around lake Michigan thru Indiana and entered Michigan where I headed for Detroit. I crossed the border there around 2 p.m. and it was almost a feeling like coming home, being in Canada again. I just love that country!!!!

After having a nice sub just after border-crossing I continued my journey towards Niagara Falls. I went thru London Woodstock (not the famous one) and Hamilton (all pretty large cities in southern Ontario, but I’m sure most of you have never heard about them before, just like me) and came to Niagara Falls around 7 p.m. I went to the HI hostel, answered some mails and got to sleep after more than 850 kms and 11 hours of driving.

On Tuesday I went to 2 body shops to get estimates for the damage of my car to send them to my insurance. They said they would try to cash settle the damage, which means that I get money from them without them having to pay for the repair. I hope that works out. I spend the evening with cooking (I had fish) and just relaxing in the hostels common area, watching TV and playing pool. Today I got up very late and wrote some mails to my next few couchsurfing hosts. The only places I still need a couch are Boston, Phily and New York

After dinner I walked up to the falls where I got a little wet because of all the spray from the waterfalls in the air. There’s almost no tourists around although the falls are also amazing in wintertime. I shot some photos and then went back to watch the animation movie “Surf’s Up” followed by the overtime of the Montréal Canadiens playing the Washington Capitals. And tomorrow … well tomorrow I will meet my couchsurfing host here in Niagara, Caroline.

Wish you all the best at home and hope you go skiing a lot – I’m jealous – I want to go skiing now (((

greez & be blessed,
Gergi

km 11678

Hi again!

After leaving Omaha on Monday 9th I drove on for another 700 km to St. Louis on the border of Missouri & Illinois. I gave a call to Jamie (my host there) to give me directions to her place. She lives downtown with her husband Derril and another couple in a really cool apartment, which used to be a warehouse – so it’s got this nice high rooms with huge windows.

The first evening we went out for Sushi and hang out a little after that. On Tuesday I went to see downtown and took a ride up the Gateway Arch @ the Jefferson Memorial Park. It’s a symbol for the extension of the US to the west which began with president Jefferson around 1800. In the afternoon I went to the zoo (which is for free in St. Louis) with Jamie and her friend Andreanna, but the best was the evening again.

When we got back from the zoo Derryl and I went out to a NHL game of the St. Louis Blues. He got tickets for free and we were sitting in 4th row behind the goal which was just awesome!!! And we also got drinks and food for free – it was like in a dream. In the end the Blues lost 4:6 against Vancouver, but it was an incredible experience again.

On Wednesday I decided to have another walk through downtown and I went for a pool game with Derryl. In the evening Jamie and her friend Nana took me to Delmar Loop, which is supposed to be the nightlife area of St. Louis and we had some beer and chicken wings at Blueberry Hill there. The owner of that bar is owning half of the area around Delmar Loop and @ Blueberry Hill he’s got tons of photos with all kinds of celebrities (movie stars, musicians, entertainers, …) When we got back to Jamie’s place Derryl had cooked some awesome-tasting fish with really good sauces and pasta.

Today in the morning I left St. Louis and drove on to Chicago, which is I think the biggest metro I’ve ever been to. Downtown is huge and everything ist just big, big, big. I went to a poetry reading with my host Keegan and I’m looking forward to check out downtown tomorrow!

Hope you are all fine at home!
be blessed,
Gergi

km 10439

Quite some days passed by since my last blog entry. Sorry that it took so long Well, what did I do …

I left Page in Arizona on 25th of January and headed West again. I went to the south rim of the Grand Canyon, which is a really impressive natural monument. I was really surprised when it started to snow there when I left. I drove on to the West the rest of the day until I gained 1 hour again when crossing the Hoover Dam at the Arizona/Nevada border. It was already dark when I got to Las Vegas and I checked in at the HI hostel on Las Vegas Boulevard. I stayed in a dorm room for 6 people there and at the end of the week it would turn out that I would have this room for me alone the entire stay. The first day in Vegas I spent walking along the strip checking out the locations of the different hotels & casinos. I also played for a couple of $s, but didn’t win anything – but I got a good story to tell:

Well, I’m standing at this Roulette table at the MGM Grand watching some others play when 1 women playing asks me: “give me a number quite one”. I just said: “no, better not” cause I didn’t want to be the 1 to blame if it was wrong. You have to know another thing: when I was driving the days before I was thinking about Vegas and the number 87 flashed thru my mind. As there is obviously no 87 at Roulette I thought: “hmmm, you can divide it by 3 and get 29”. I then watched the wheel spinning and the ball jumping and guess where it landed …

On Tuesday I met Grace and her brother Spencer in Vegas, who were there because Spence was invited to a contest there. Grace gave me a badge for the SIA (Snowsports Industries America) convention at the Mandalay Bay resort where the competiton was held. SIA can be compared to the ISPO in Munich and it was really cool to see all the new stuff that would be in stores for next winter.

On Wednesday I went out to see Hoover Dam at daylight. It’s a really impressive facility and I stayed there quite some time. In the evening I went to SIA again to watch some of the kids practise for the contest and have a look at some of the new stuff. Thursday I just spent on the strip again, walking around and taking lots of pictures. Spence’s competition was also that day and he finished 3rd. Friday Grace & Spence went back home and I used the day for a trip to Death Valley. It was a really nice drive there and a totally strange landscape to watch.

On Saturday I left from Las Vegas heading Northeast to Utah, which is a very diverse state with lots of different landscapes. I stayed in Moab for the night at the Lazy Lizard hostel, which is probably the cheapest hostel you will find anywhere. I paid $ 9.80 for the night and watched a really funny movie called “The Anchorman” with the other guys there. The next morning I got up before sunrise to go to Arches National Park to have a look at Delicate Arch and “The Windows” which are really awesome arches of rock. I would have liked to stay there longer but I had to continue my journey East towards Winter Park.

I drove along Colorado River and entered the state of the same name around noon. Entering Colorado was pretty much the spot where the road began to rise steadily to lead me up to the mountains where I passed the ski areas of Beaver Creek, Vail, Copper Mountain and Breckenridge and drove over 2 really high passes – one, the Vail pass approximately 3,200 m above sea-level and the other, Loveland pass, on almost 3,700 m. After those 2 I left interstate 70 and took another pass (more than 3,400 m) to Winter Park where I then followed Grace to her family’s house (she was also on the same road at that time), which is in the forest outside of Winter Park – it’s beautiful there.

I had a very warm welcome and got to know Grace’s other 2 siblings, Charles and Elizabeth, her mom Jane and lots of other people from the Torchbearer’s bible school there. I also met Birgit (Krömer), who works with the bible school here until April. As I arrived Super Bowl 43 was just starting and we all watched it together while having lots of really good junk food  I also talked to Birgit quite a while and it was really good to talk with someone of my own dialect again.

I used Monday to sleep really long and just chill out and didn’t really do much except talking a little bit with the Keirnes’. Tuesday, well Tuesday I went skiing  which was really awesome. We went over to the village of Winter Park (which is on 2,700 m) and I went skiing all day and also watching Spence, Charles and their friend Alex shredding the Park. They are all really good and I was really amazed by another friend of theirs, which is just 8 years old and does 9’s and 10’s on the kickers and already got a sponsorship by K2. I also got the chance to hit a powder line down from North Cone which is actually the highest spot I’ve ever been to with its 12,060 feet (3,676 m). In the evening we went to a really good Pizza place, which was the perfect ending for an awesome day. Wednesday I went skiing again all day long with a hand-written lift ticket  (there was a blackout on the ski hill and the lifts were running on generator in the beginning). In the evening Grace’s mom Jane cooked a really awesome chicken with parmesan and spaghetti and we had a look at some photos.

Thursday the 5th I went down to Colorado Springs and Denver. I first went to “the Springs”  and took a walk in the “Garden of the Gods” there, which is a really nice recreation area. After that I drove back up to the “mile high” Denver and took a walk around downtown which is really nice. But it’s really sad that there are lots of homeless people in the city. After visiting Denver I went back up to Winter Park and Jane, the boys and I went for dinner @ Smoking Moe’s where I had some Colorado Oysters .

Friday I went skiing again in Winter Park and hit some new runs I had not done before and I watched a ski race which was held there. And now the best part: I met Martin there, the brother of my friend Marc. Martin is coach at the university of New Mexico and was there with the university’s team for the competition. I took a lift-ride with him and we chatted a little. In the evening Grace came up from Greeley for the weekend and we watched the movie “Eagle Eye”, which is basically a Matrix/Terminator-style “machine-vs-man” story in a new dress, but still was quite good. Saturday I hit the mountain together with Grace and I started to prepare for leaving towards Omaha on Sunday.

And well there I am right now, in the mid-west in Omaha, Nebraska after a 980-km drive sitting in Ted’s apartment. Ted is an awesome, close-to-nature guy originally from Montana and he cooked Elk today for me It was really great meeting him here!

So that is it for the past 2 weeks! Wish you all the best, whoever you read this and wherever you are!!
Be blessed,
Gergi

Message from HEAD

I also want to use my blog for something more useful than just reporting about my travelling, so watch this!

Info: Brian “Head” Welch is former 2nd guitarist of the metal band KoRn and quit the band when he dedicated his life to Jesus Christ.