Booth&Lilster

The American Road Trip Edition

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THE END OF THE ROAD A final round up and reflection on the last 110 days of amazing travel around America. It's been lovely catching up with friends back in New York, but also rather surreal, as if the last 4 months didn't happen, so this is really for me a nice way to think back through my adventure. Here are some quick stats... Over 12,000 miles driven Through 29 states and 1 district Furthest North - Polebridge, Montana, about 20 miles from Canadian border Furthest West - was also Polebridge, Montana Furthest South - a fine line between Marfa and Austin both in Texas (I should really check out their long and lat) Furthest East - Bar Harbour, Maine Highest elevation 12,000ft No speeding tickets or parking fines and never pulled over by the police, and amazingly no major problems with The Beast. ...and a couple of final thoughts. EVERYONE HAS A STORY My mum used to say that my sister and I had 'a face that launched a thousand conversations' - basically anyone would talk to us... I guess we look fairly safe! And I definitely felt that out on the road. I spoke to people from all walks of life aged 17-70 and everyone had something to tell me and teach me, but I was also amazed how happy they were to open up to a stranger.  They told me tales of broken marriages, children they needed to reconnect with, desires to do what I was doing,  stories about interrogation in Afganistan, volcanos on Mars, and where to find the best bourbon in Kentucky. People offered to share food, drinks and invited me into their homes. I learnt more about America and Americans in my four months on the road than I did in my previous three years and there are a lot of amazing people here. NO SHAME IN COMFORT When I first jumped in The Beast I had barely driven a car in the last three years... it's New York.  The first few days of driving were therefore a bit of a killer.  My arms and legs ached, my back was sore and I had a red welt in my neck from the seatbelt. So I stopped at a store and picked up a booster cushion and one of those furry seatbelt wraps and was soooo much happier!  No shame in comfort people... none at all (I even considered the chair massager!). THE HIGHS & THE LOWS When I think back over the last 4 months the moments that really stand out are Montana, my favourite state and Glacier National Park; Jackson, Wyoming, my favourite town with the soaring Tetons in the background and my wonderful oil painting course; Burnt Well Ranch and having a glimpse into ranch life in New Mexico; the film festival in crazy Marfa and the Austin City Limits Festival in weird and wonderful Austin.  But there were a couple of hairier moments; when I was on a hike and bumped into two guys one carrying a machete and no one else in sight - I ended up doing a really long walk away from them and then having to loop back to The Beast and pegged it out of there. Some long stretches of rather dull driving (oh Iowa) and times when I would have loved to sit and have a beer with a friend rather than need to strike up a conversation with another stranger.   The balance though is so much greater with the highs, I would happily jump back in The Beast tomorrow! THE END OF THE ROAD (ish) So there we have it, as many of you know I've decided to move back to Australia.  It literally hit me as I drove over the state line of Alabama and saw their welcome sign 'Sweet Home Alabama', and I realised my sweet home was Australia.  I'm sad to say goodbye to friends here and excited to say hello to my friends back in Oz, where I'm already thinking a roadtrip around Australia in the not too distant future might be a great idea! Thanks to everyone for reading this blog, it was great to feel like I was driving with friends.

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Nov 18-23 Traveled GA, NC, SC, VA, DC, MD, PA, DE, NJ, NY THIS ONE'S FOR LILSTER My friend Andie pointed out a couple of posts ago that Lilster had been a little abscent, so this one is dedicated to Lilster. Lil, you are an amazing traveling companion, never once did you complain or ask 'are we there yet' and you are a very good hot water bottle during those colder nights. We covered a lot of states in our last 5 days, but I'd heard great things about the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Shenandoah National Park, so we headed away from the coast and towards the Appellation Mountains for a final couple of hikes. I've decided I prefer lakes to waterfalls, I like the traquility of lakes, but the Crabtree Falls hike was highly recommended, and I have to say the falls were really impressive. Huge thundering water plunging through the forest. It was a hard 2 mile hike up to the top switchbacking next to the falls. In fact 23 people had died on this climb, so I was extra careful going up the slippery rocks, but it was worth it. Driving the Blue Ridge Parkway you feel like you're driving on top of a mountain, looping roads and huge drop offs on either side; it is glorious and there was still some of the autumnal colours remaining. The following day we did another steep hike this time up to the Humpback Rocks which gave us an amazing view over the Shenandoah Park and Valley, such a beautiful part of the country. It was then a 3hr drive to Washington DC. It feels appropriate to end my roadtrip in the capital, which I haven't visited for more than 20 years. The weather took a massive dip and it was really cold, but not raining so Lil and I set off in the morning for a big walk taking in the White House, Washington Monument and Lincoln Monument. I left Lil sleeping while I headed back out in the afternoon and visited the recently renovated Renwick Gallery, which was showing an incredible exhibition called wonder. Each artist was given a room to create a piece that demonstrated 'wonder' and boy did they deliver, huge light scupltures, an enormous tree that had been recreated from tiny pieces, index cards stacked into mountain ranges, and threads woven so finely they looked like light rays; breathtaking. I then went onto the Newseum, a museum dedicated to the news industry which had incredible interactive displays, I loved it - thanks Joe for the reco. And then, it was time to head back to NYC for thanksgiving. It felt strange saying goodbye to The Beast after more than 100 days with her and even odder being back in NYC after nearly 4 months. I'll do one final post summing up this incredible experience I was lucky enough to do. Until then happy thanksgiving to all my stateside friends and happy holidays to everyone.

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Days 96-103

Nov 11-17, Traveled, GA, SC

SOUTHERN CHARM

I continued through the rolling hills and lush forests of Alabama into Georgia where I stopped in the gorgeous town of Athens. It was a unique combination of university town, college football mecca, historical buildings and boutique bars and restaurants; really worth a visit. I had the most incredible steak at the Branded Butcher and splashed out (after too many days in stale buscuit and urine smelling motels) to stay at the goregous Graduate Athens for one night. Add it to the list people!

It had been a few weeks since I seen friends, so was great to head to Charleston for a long weekend and meet up with Joe & Zoe. Charleston is an incredible city, steeped in history, stunning architecture and a burgeoning restaurant and bar scene all wrapped in the southern charm.

Our first day there we did the obligatory carriage ride with Dustin our tour guide and Don Juan our horse. My favourite factoids we learnt were that the Unitarian Church was the only one that survived all the fires and earthquakes (time to join the Unitarians) and about the blue doors on the houses built over the graveyard to keep the spirits out.

Later that day the Paris attacks happened, which was a terrible event to watch unfold. My thoughts go out to all the family and friends of the victims. Having been so many months on the road it was an awful dose of reality.

But life must go on; for it not to is giving in to the fear these people want to create. So whilst keeping updated on events we also went out and enjoyed Charleston, where I found another friend, Tracy, was also in town so we all met at a piano bar. It was good time to be surrounded by friends.

I really loved Charleston and we had an amazing weekend, but as I said farwell to Zoe & Joe I knew I had to check out its rival Savannah, only 2hrs south.

Savannah has a certain gritty, gothic allure that Charleston lacks; a macabre underbelly and a refusal to conform. I loved them both for different reasons and had a great day walking through the scenes from ‘Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil’ - Mercer House, Clary’s Cafe and Bonaventure Cementry - which is beautifully scary even in daylight.

After all this southern charm I turned to head north towards the Shenandoah National Park (thanks for the tip Jill!) in Virginia.

l

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Days 84-95 Oct 30-Nov 10 Traveled, AR, MS, AL BATHS, BLUES AND BIRMINGHAM It was time to start heading back east towards New York City. I want to stay low to hang on to as much of the warmth as possible... although I have to admit it was getting too cold to sleep in The Beast, so was motel hopping instead. First stop was Hot Springs, Arkansas; boyhood home of Bill Clinton, so if it was good enough for Bill.... Hot Springs is really America's answer to Bath, but from around the 1900's rather than the Roman era. People would come and bathe in the naturally hot mineral waters for theraputic purposes and then walk along the Grand Promenade. They had restored the original Bathhouses and you can wander down Bathhouse Row and see the beautiful and varied architecture. Several of the Bathhouses are still operational and it seemed like a good way to help my aching muscles after all the riding on the ranch. I chose the Quapaw Bathouse and bought the average age down of the clientelle by about 20 years. As I moved between the four baths of differing temperatures I noticed I was being followed by an elderly, very hirsute gentelman; it was like being persued in slow motion by a silver backed gorilla - time to get out of the baths and go and have a massage! Next I drove across to Clarkesdale, Mississippi, home of the Blues, with a good museum called the Delta Blues Museum which pays hommage to many of the Blue's greats, including an extensive area on Muddy Waters. Having learnt about the Blues it was time that evening to go and listen to some and 'Red's Blues Club' where a 16yr old called Kingfish was playing. He was electricifying and hard to believe only 16; honestly check him out on YouTube and you'll see what I mean. I stayed in the Shack Up Inn - thanks Marsha for the recommendation! - which is the beautiful mish-mash of old shacks each unique and with it's own personality. I stayed in the Buiscuit Shack (of course next to Gravy Shack). Here I had the worst rain of the trip and for two days as the rain beat down on the tin roof of my shack I borrowed a guitar from the front desk and bashed my way through some basic chords. I am not a natural guitar player and days later the tips of my fingers are still numb (is that normal?!). In keeping with the rich musical heritage of Mississippi I went on to Tupelo, birthplace of Elvis. You can walk through the tiny house he was born in, with his still-born twin brother Jesse who I didn't know about, back in 1935 and then experience a church service in his local church, really beautifully done. And then finally in this stretch onto Birmingham, Alabama, renowed not for music, but it's chequered history through the civil rights movement. Here I visited Civil Rights Museum, one of the best museums I've ever been to. Very thoughtfully laid out, a lot of recreated side-by-side comparisons how life differed for whites versus blacks. I stayed several hours and could have easily stayed a couple more, but it was closing time and I had to be ushered out by the kind, elderly guard. If the Northwest taught me a little more about the Native Americans, then the South is teaching me a little more about the African Americans; they are sobering moments.

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Days 75-83

Oct 23-29, Traveled, TX, NM

GETTIN' M' COWGIRL ON

After my glorious time in Marfa I started to head further west into New Mexico for a stay on a working ranch. I could only find three ranches in America that would allow dogs and by pure luck Burnt Well Guest Ranch had a vacancy for their final week of the year.

The ranch is an hour from Roswell so I stayed overnight there. Someone described Roswell to me as ‘a strip mall and an alien museum’.. and that pretty much sums the place up. I did go to the “alien museum” or more grandly titled International UFO Research Centre and Museum. Like Roswell itself, it was looking rather tired and worn down and after an hour or so looking around I wasn’t exactly convinced that aliens had landed back in 1947. It seemed odd that now we all carry videos and cameras on us permenantly there hasn’t been any better UFO footage in recent years if they really did exist. According to several locals, the 'alien’ bodies were actually those of down-syndrome children who’d been abandoned at a local orphanage, which is why the military had to cover up the incident as they were using the children in test flights. Sadly this explanation seems more plausible than an alien invasion.

Back to the reality of Burnt Well Guest Ranch run by the incredibly warm and generous Kim & Patricia Chesser and their son Tye. Kim’s dad ran the ranch before him and it’s one of the few surviving owner-operator ranches in the region; cattle ranching is a tough industry to be in and wealthy people have driven up the price of ranches so it’s not affordable to raise cattle on them any more. But fortunately for me and the other couple staying - a lovely English girl and her Irish boyfriend - the Chesser’s hadn’t sold out and having guests helped keep the ranch going.

They had over 15,000 acres and 300 head of cattle - which doesn’t sound a lot, but you only count the adult cattle, so was more like 600 when you included the calves and with each head worth over $1000 when sold for beef you can understand how vital it was to keep the cattle healthy.

We were at the point in the season when the calves needed to be branded, vaccinated againts blackleg, tagged through the ear, and for the steers, castrated. First we had to round the cows up and this was in pastures of several miles wide, with hills, so no small task. We rode some excellent quarter horses and were in the saddle between 7-8am and stayed there until around 5pm with a break for lunch. It was tough, rocky ground to ride over but the horses and dogs that came with us were built for these harsh conditions. We also all had to learn to ride 'Western style’ which means much longer stirrups and you hold the reigns in one hand, it took a little getting used to but I liked the change from the English style.

Once the cattle had been driven to the alley - a metal alleyway with various corrals off it - we then had to separate the mums from their calves. This was the most fun job as we got to fully experience how responsive the horses were - you had to ride into the alley full of cattle, including bulls, and then use your horse to separate a calf out from the herd and drive it into a corral. My favourite horse for this was Jonah (pictured above), super responsive and a really smooth ride… and he had commically big ears.

Once separated the noise was defeaning as the cows and calves bawled for each other. Then Tye, Kim’s son, would rope a calf’s hind legs, drag him down so Kim could get the head in metal lock and within two minutes the calf was branded, injected, tagged and if male castrated. I was on injection duty, but I did also castrated one calf; experience of a lifetime! I have to say considering we had to snipe them open and pull the testes down before cutting them they didn’t complain that much, probably in shock!

Evenings were spent having dinner with Kim and his wife Patricia who cooked amazing Mexican and home fare, we were certainly well fed. Over dinner they told us stories of cattle drives and floods they’d endured, rattlesnakes and wolves.

It was a magical 5 days on the ranch, I loved the simplicity of getting up and out on a horse every day. Living off the land, watching Kim kill a rattlesnake with a rock - I even have the rattle from the snake to give to my nephew! - and the pleasure from driving 60 head of cattle by myself. By the end of the day you’re exhausted, I think I went to bed before 9pm every night. I would highly recommend visiting Burnt Well Guest Ranch if you ever want to experience a true working ranch and a completly different way of life.

I left Burnt Well feeling extremely content and ready to start heading back East towards NYC.

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Days 66-74
Oct 14-22nd, Travelled Marfa, TX FAR OUT MARFA! Cities in America love an (unofficial) motto, and I have to say I’m a big fan. ‘Keep Austin weird’ is just perfect. Marfa’s has the right sentiment, but needs wordsmithing (any copywriters fancy a crack?) - ‘Tough to get to, Tougher to explain, but when you get here you get it’. But it’s very true, my summation is - Far out! It’s 7hrs from Austin or 3hrs drive from either Odessa or El Paso. Population of 2121 and in the middle of the dessert. Yet back in the 1980’s artist Donald Judd made this his home and realized his ambition to create permanent collections of his and his friends works. He believed that an artist should consider not only their work, but the building it was in and the light, and when you see the pieces in Marfa he does have a good point. With Marfa’s very close proximity to Mexico there’s a blend of Texan and Mexican; because of the Army Base (or so I was told) there are a million different churches as everyone wanted to build one for their specific denomination. And then there’s the blend of old world charm in the Hotel Paisano, home to the cast and crew of Giant, meets new york style with restaurants like Cochineal, meets bohemian chic in teepee and tent grounds El Cosmico. The other great thing is the whole town is less than 2miles wide, so I ditched The Beast in favour of a bike, which I peddled around furiously and made me want to shout 'up yer bum!’ at the top of my lungs (reference to Brit movie 'Wish You Were Here’… very good by the way). Marfa definitely has a magical energy to it, so big thank you to Marsha who suggested I meet her and Marney out there for the film festival as I never would have made it otherwise. 
Our days were spent watching films - some truly appalling self-indulgent wank that frankly made me embrassed to be female, but there were some really beautiful ones; my favourties were Gravitation (an amazing black and white dance piece), One Hitta Quitta (a disturbing look at internet violence) and Florence has Left the Building (a beautiful story about an old lady trying to escape a nursing home… I cried). We also went out to the golf course one (chilly) evening to watch Harold & Maude, a 70’s classic I’d never seen, but was just brilliant, made even more specially by the location… OK and the free tequila. In the evenings there were various places with live music, the best was hearing Calliope Musical at Padres. They were a band with so much energy and enthusiasm by the end everyone was up and dancing and then the band came down and chatted with everyone - the lead singer had a fabulous name… Carrie. Honestly if you ever get a chance to see them do, they’re Austin based, but tour a lot. Marfa is also an amazing place to meet a wide range of characters; you feel like your in a movie yourself. I met ranchers, carpenters, the eye-patched barman, fashion designers and the most random, a volcanologist who was working at Nasa looking at volcanos on Mars. Of couse being the classy chick that I am I had to ask him what Nasa felt about The Martian (if you don’t know the book or film… you’ve been living under a rock!), and apparently they’re pretty happy with it and were even consulted. They’ve even added they’re own geek humour by getting rover 'Curiosity’ (the current exploration vehicle on Mars) to take selfies… amazing. Like Jackson, I got lost in the tiny world of Marfa and stayed over a week, which was great because the town is so small you start to bump into people again and again. I even finished a second (dreadful!) painting (I learnt painting water is really, really hard!), but did some good sketches for further paintings of the desert. Next I’m breaking bad in New Mexico on a cattle ranch - yee-haw!

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Days 57-65 Oct 6th-13th, Traveled CO, TX KEEPING IT WEIRD IN AUSTIN October is seeing a change of pace, which is lovely.  After a lot of hiking, October is filled with more cultural events, the first of which was the Austin City Limits Festival.  We drove down through endless cotton fields and lazy spinning wind farms as the weather grew increasingly warmer heading southeast towards Austin. On my way we stopped at San Saba to buy some cowboy boots, because at the end of October I'm going to spend 5 days on a working ranch and needed boots for riding.  I figured Texas was pretty much the best state to buy them in and thanks to Yelp found Harry's, this incredible boot shop that's been around for over 75 years and has hundreds of boots.  The ladies were very helpful, especially to a complete cowboy boot novice as myself, and showed me the type of heel I'd need for riding. I'm now the proud ower of a beautiful pair of boots that will get put to the test in a few week's time. It was my first time in Austin and boy did I love the city. I rented a little bungalow just off south first and it was great to be able to stretch out, unpack... and do a mountain of washing! The bungalow was self-proscribed 'Austin Weird' and Lilster also found herself right at home amongst the plastic dinosaurs and set up camp on a mustard coloured velour armchair as I went out to explore the city.  I did a big loop down south first and south congress popping in and out of shops and just soaking in the unique Austin vibe.  As my friend Leslie had suggested, I started the day with a breakfast taco... and am now hooked on the things!  Maybe Sydney needs a breakfast taco truck... hmmm? I had tickets for the Friday and Sunday of the ACL and met up with Leslie and her boyfriend Brian.  True to American events this was incredibly well organised, you could even connect your credit card to your wristband and charge everything that way.  Zilker park was beautiful and the food, all from local eateries, was the best festival food I've ever had.  Highlights for me were the old school sound of Leon Bridges and for dancing the visceral drums from Of Monsters and Men.  The only thing this pale Brit struggled with was the heat, even at 7pm it was still in the 30s! Sat I had time to explore Austin further.  I started again with a breakfast taco and then Lilster and I did a big walk along the lakes and down to Barton Springs - she swam and I paddled. I then went to buy all the basics I needed to continue doing some oil paintings; Asel's Art Supply was brilliant and very reasonably priced. They were up near the university so I looped back down through the Capitol and had lunch watching the 3rd & 4th quarters of the OU/Texas game - great game and Texas pulled out all the stops to win.  Austin was such an incredible city, I can see why their motto is 'keep Austin weird' and their healthy distain for Dallas - my favourite retort I saw was 'Life's too short to live in Dallas'.  Austin I hope I'll be back someday; Leslie thank you for showing me your amazing city. Heading out to far west Texas for the Marfa film festival!

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Days 50-56

Sept 29th - Oct 5th, Traveled WY, CO

GUEST BLOGGER - LILSTER (translated as best as possible by Booth)

WTF?! Seriously. WHAT. THE. … whoa there, slow the ponies!! What a rollercoaster ride these last two months have been.

One minute I’m in a tiny house, surrounded by boxes and lots of big male humans picking them up. I have to say, I panicked… were they going to put me in a box too?

And then, woo-wee, my human and I got into a big van and whoosh! - off we flew. I thought she was taking me somewhere to leave me; did she think I’d been bad? I panicked again… but then we stopped in a forest and the back of a van turned into a bed. Whoa, now I have a giant new dog bed! My human annoyingly shares it with me, but I guess it’s the least I can do considering that every day she drives me somewhere new with all these amazing smells and weird animals.

I’ve gone from being a bit afraid to crazy ecstatic! This is THE BEST DOG TRIP EVER! The smells are just out of this world (Booth apologizes to Lilster as the human language doesn’t have as many words to describe dog’s smells as dogs do); musky, cloying odors of the animals; sweet, honeyed resins from flowers and trees; peaty, dank smells from the earth. I can’t get enough! And every few days we are somewhere different and there’s a whole new bunch of smells to explore.

And then the animals! The tiny little striped toys that dart about begging to be captured, although my human gets cross when I chase them (chipmunks). The giant wooly cows that I growled at that made my human really cross (bison) and then all the other weird, beasts and rodenty things I’ve run around after. My human generally gets cross when I do this, but can’t she see I’m defending her from the terrible dangers?! (OK, and maybe having a lot of fun running). Since that first day we mainly live in the van with the giant dog bed and I get to run around a lot outside, NO TIE!!!!! Did you hear that fellow dogs… NO TIE!!!! I could run away from my human and she couldn’t stop me!!! Although, then I’d be scared, as I always feel a bit funny when I can’t see her.

My human is being annoying and telling me I have to say something about where we’ve been the last few days. She tells me we are somewhere called Colorado, I don’t know what that means, but my human has been a little bit more giggly in the evenings since we’ve been here and tends to hug me more… so embarassing, thank goodness there aren’t other dogs to see me (ugh!).

I have noticed that the air has become cooler in the mornings and evenings, so thank goodness my human bought an extra thick blanket recently as we snuggle up underneath that for warmth; her fur is rubbish and she seems to need extra layers to make up for this inadequacy. Honestly humans really aren’t designed well, except for that toe they have on their front paws that allows them to grip things…that looks handy!

There are lots of beautiful mountains around us. We did this excellent walk that lasted for hours - my human tells me it was the Mohawk’s Lakes Trail. Anyway we got to one beautiful lake that I went paddling in, don’t know why my human doesn’t join me, honestly, if she just had more fur the cold water doesn’t bother one at all. And then went up higher to a second lake, that was even bigger and more beautiful. My human became very slow moving towards the top, so I would patiently wait for her smiling encouragement, although underneath it all I was thinking.. ‘for the love of god, what’s keeping you and your ridiculous two paws on the ground… try four woman!’ (Booth aside to Lilster.. you do know I’m reading this as I translate?! We reached 12,081, highest we’ve been this trip. Lilster completely unphased by the altitude, Booth was rubbish!).

I don’t know how long this doggy paradise continues, but I hope we aren’t going back to the tiny house any time soon. (Austin City Limits festival beckons at the weekend… Texas here we come!).

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Sept 18-28th, Days 39-49 HOLING UP IN JACKSON, Traveled, MT, ID, WY After dropping down through Montana and briefly into Idaho I stopped in the glorious Jackson, WY (which is within the Jackson Hole valley). If Montana took my heart as a state, then Jackson has taken my soul as a town. It's has a population of just under 10,000 and is a wealth of lovely little boutiques, galleries and gorgeous restaurants and cafes; I was in heaven.   To add to my delight the fall colours had just started to pop, which meant the surrounding Tetons and Jackson Hole were in umbers and ochers of the aspens, burnt siennas of the hills and the dusty green of sage bushes.   I'd intended to stay for three days, but instantly knew that wouldn't be long enough so extended my stay to six days.  As we'd dropped down into Wyoming we came through Yellowstone Park, which has some beautiful gesyers (I have to admit there was a massive tailback 16 miles from Old Faithful and I couldn't face sitting in traffic so I skipped it) and the stunning Yellowstone Grand Canyon. But between the crowds of tourists and the poor Lilster basically being stuck in the van I skipped through pretty quickly. In all honesty I was a little underwhelmed by Yellowstone, but maybe I'd just been spoiled by Glacier National Park.  However, I couldn't help but think it was a little like Bondi Beach, Sydney - the place where all the tourists go so the locals can keep the best beaches/parks to themselves. But the Tetons, oh the Tetons! Towering majecstically up, billowing folds of mountains down into the valley.  What I've discovered is that most National Parks (dogs not allowed) have a National Forest next door where dogs are allowed off leash and the Tetons were no exception. Backing onto the Tetons near Jackson are the Bridger-Teton and Gros Ventre Wilderness areas. It is hunting season so we wore our orange blaze but did some spectacular hikes all with views back to the Tetons. So enamored was I with the colours and the scenery that I happened upon a one day oil colour painting workshop - thank you Michaela for letting me know about the Jackson Art Association.  They kindly rented me all the equiment I needed for the day - asking 'you do know how to paint?', 'no' I replied, 'not since I was a kid at school' - but undaunted by my amateur status they let me enrol. We spend the day out at Triangle X Ranch where our teacher, Kathyrn Turner, was 4th generation on the ranch and she taught us how to look at shapes, the value of colours (how light or dark they are) and how to compose a picture; I was rapt. In the afternoon we drove down to part of the Snake River that wound its way through their property with the Tetons looming high in the background. I chose to paint a canyon that caught my eye and the hours flew by. I loved the experience so much I'm hoping to buy some basic oil paints in Austin in a few week's time so I can continue painting - I've included a photo of my first ever attempt. As I chase the sun and the autumal colours engulf me I continue south to Colorado.

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Days 32-38, Sept 11-17th Traveled MT MR MCGREGOR, VERTIGO AND A GRIZZLY BEAR I realise the headline for this post sounds like the start of a bad joke, but it's going to a glimplse into my past week of wonderfulness in Montana. No state has made me shriek, swear or laugh hysterically more than Montana. I've done some spectular hikes here, despite not being able to hike with Lilster in Glacier, we found plenty of other great places nearby. On one of these outings to find a trail we had attempted to head high into the Jewel Basin area, but alas the road was too steep and gravelled for The Beast and she started to skid across the road - one side of which was a pretty steep drop into forest. I therefore performed an Austin Powers-esque 17 point turn and sadly headed back down the mountian and found a more genteel route along a river bank. As we set off I noticed a small path heading off up into the forest to the right. Now true to Montana's nature they don't seem to mark their trails here (unlike other states who are excellent at it), in fact you're lucky to even find a trailhead marker, so seeing this unmarked trail didn't deter me one bit. It was great as we hiked up into the forest, getting more of the sort of walk I'd been hoping for in the Jewel Basin area. We didn't see another soul, execpt the occassional mule deer that would dash off waving its white tail like a surrender flag. It wasn't until I was about 1.5hrs into this hike and the path was thinning that I started to wonder if we were actually on a trail, or even allowed on this trail... and low and behold just as I thought that I came across a 'no trespassing' sign. My rule of thumb is that the 'trespassing' bit refers to the area behind the sign, so as long as we didn't go that way we were OK. I was also aware that I was in Montana and it was hunting season and neither Lilster nor I were wearing the recommended orange blaze vest. Checking the only tool I had with me (I know, idiot didn't have a map) I could see from my iPhone I was 5mins from the road which I could then use to loop back to the original trail - 5mins to road, 1.5hrs back the way I came... no choice really. I headed on quickly, the trail ran out and then I was faced with an open field. Now I was clearly trespassing as there was farm machinery in it, but the road was tantilisingly close, so I pegged it across the field, skidded down an embankment, scraping my leg along the way, and ended up in someone's back garden swearing most of the way. My over riding thought was this is how Peter Rabbit felt being chased by Mr McGregor with a gun! Luckily the house was being renovated, so I limped out of the front, blood running down my leg and waved a cheery hello to the neighbours. No major harm done, but I knew that I needed to purchase maps, bear spray and orange vests for Lilster and I. The following day we got up at dawn to drive from Kalispell to the 'Going to The Sun Road'. A road that was built in the 1930's and snakes its way up into Glacier Mountain Park and back down the otherside, around 50 miles long, but it takes about 1.5hrs to drive as the road gets very narrow. I'd allowed a good 2hrs as I knew I'd be stopping for endless photos. It was a gloomy overcast morning, but that added to the imposing beauty of the park. It is a truly spectacular place to visit, any photos don't to the colours or the magnificent landscape justice. I was happily driving up, taking many photos and hopping out to read the various information boards along the way. Near the top you come to an area called 'The Loop' where you go through an almost 180 degree switch back... and then it happened. The jagged, slate grey rocks seemed to press down on the van to my left, and on my right was a sheer death drop into the valley miles below and my vision started to swim, I was suddenly terrified. I've never experienced vertigo before, having jumped out of airplanes, stood on mountain tops and absailed down cliff faces, heights had never really bothered me - I have a healthy respect for them, but never feared them. This was something new to me and I was in the dead centre of the 50 mile road and had to continue. I did the only two things I could think of - found a granola bar to get some sugar in me (if I had the energy I would have made a cup of tea too!) and put on spotify to sing along to. I crawled along the road at under 20 miles an hour, alternating between singing, shrieking and laughing manically. I even made myself stop for some photos, which entailed me practially crawling on hands and knees to the edge and clinging onto something while I shakily took some shots - this will explain my less than brilliant photographs. To add to my joy it started to snow - more hysterical laughter - and I slowed my pace further. I don't think the skidding van from the day before helped my nerves as this is what I was really fearful of; that I'd lose control of the van and skid over the edge - there's only a 2ft wall between the road and death. It was like being on a really, old rickety rollercoaster and you had to keep the car on the tracks. I'm guessing you're smart enough to realise that because I'm writing this, no death happened that day - no thank you sir-ee! I found a cafe at the bottom where I gorged myself on hot chocolate and huckleberry pancakes, sugar was still the only panacea I could think of. I had intended to head back over the pass, but the weather was closing in and the thought of doing it all again in the rain and snow was too much; I took the highway around the bottom and up the other side to the glorious Polebridge. I literal two horse town with no running water (I hadn't seen a flushing toilet let alone a shower for more that a week, so that was nothing new) and a great bakery which I lived on it's delights for two days - thanks Dee for the recommendation! From Polebridge fully recovered from the previous day's drive we did a couple of glorious hikes looking back down over Glacier Park. The first one up to Cyclone's Peak required driving up a narrow gravel road to get to the trailhead and as I rounded a corner there was a grizzly in the middle of the road. I may have sworn as my first reaction and then rummaged for my phone to snap some shots. It didn't look huge - although it's my first grizzly, so I've got no real comparison other than me thinking 'oh, I thought you'd be bigger'. But I do know it was a grizzly as my bear spray (yes, I finally bought some along with the orange vests) showed me how to distinguish between the two - grizzlies have a hump and smaller ears compared to black bears. It ambled up the road, its huge furry backside swaying almost lasciviously from side to side, checking back on me every now and again to make sure I wasn't getting too close. It was a breathtaking experience, and one I was very happy to have from the comfort of The Beast. In a few days I shall say 'farewell', but not goodbye to Montana, until we meet again. But the treasures of Yellowstone and the Tetons await.

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Hello Mr Grizzly - closest I want to get without the comfort of The Beast!

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Days 29-31, Sept 8th-10th Traveled SD, WY, MT ODE TO MONTANA Oh Montana how I love thee already. The landscape is a caliderscope of colours created from a rich tapestry of materials. Hills like the crushed velvet of an old man's smoking jacket draped over a chair, cows of deep midnight silk dotting the landscape, plains of golden grasses stretching out like cashmere whispering promises in the wind. I've only been here a couple of days and have already gone from lust to deep love and I haven't even got to the really spectacular part - Glacier National Park further north. But Montana you are already magnificent; the lion in America's states jungle of beasts (too much? Ah well, I can't help waxing lyrical about this great state). The changing landscape over the last few days has been stunning. The scorched landscape of Wyoming, russet red soil and scrubby plains. Tiny hills erupt upwards like pimples on the face of earth. And then the sky...the huge, limitless, unending expanse, an infinity of blues. All against the smoky backdrop of the Rockies in the distant; an ever looming presence just out of reach. Then onwards as the sky loomed ever greater, my photos don't even begin to do justice to the 'big sky' of Montana and the millions of stars you can see at night...I think I want to retire here and keep seeing places 'for sale' and wondering whether to enquire. Shortly after entering Montana I saw a sign for the 'Battle of Little Bighorn' and swerved The Beast quickly left to go and have a look. Yet another historic landmark that I had no idea which state it was in; I can feel my father (who was a historian) rolling in his grave - sorry dad! But I remember learning about Custer's Last Stand at school and it was very sobering walking up the ridge on which they were surrounded and died. A very thought provoking monument that is testiment to both the U.S. soldiers and the Native Americans fighting for their way of life and rightful land ownership; sadly their victory was short lived. As I looked down the hill and saw the vast numbers of graves littering the side I couldn't help but think of all the wars and tragic losses that are still happening today. We really haven't moved on that much as a society. Gosh this has been an emotive post! Montana has clearly stirred a lot in me. We've already done some gorgeous hikes into the mountains. Switchback paths into pines and then cresting out above them so you can look back down through gullies and back over the plains. Slightly terrifying signs warning of bears and mountain lions; but no sightings to date - I'd love to see a bear, but only at a very safe distance, the lesson from the bison still firmly planted in my mind.   I plan to take a leisurely route up to Glacier via Flathead National Park - which is dog friendly where sadly Glacier isn't, but we can still drive Glacier through for the views - and do some big hikes along the way. Next stop tomorrow is Swan Lake for a few nights to hike there...oh Montana, don't ever leave me *sigh*.

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Lovely!

Great to see pics of jess and family. Would love to go to block island one day. Looks fab. Hope campsites improve on the next leg xxxx

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Days 23-28, Sept 2nd-7th Traveled SD TAKING IT SLOW IN SOUTH DAKOTA After last week’s big drive across the country we took our time in South Dakota’s Black Hills and Custer Parks. It is stunning here, the flora and fauna is glorious. I decided to splash out and spend a few nights in a lovely little cabin in the woods, which bison and other wild animals regularly wandered past - although note to self, do NOT walk through a herd of bison, however far off they look. I had a terrifying moment when a female thought I was getting too close to calf and started running at me. I stood very still until she slowed and then started walking off in the other direction *phew*. It was hot (in the 90s/mid 30s) so the hikes were shorter, but I still saw bluebirds, bighorned sheep, burros (wild horses), mule deer, prairie dogs and of course a lot of bison. Then the wild flowers of the prairie were in full bloom, along with a myriad of colours from all the grasses interspersed with ponderosa pine forests. It’s a constant tug of war between the prairie and the pines as each try to dominate the other and controlled fires help keep the equilibrium, but sadly this year a bug attacked huge swathes of the pine trees and action wasn’t taken quickly enough to stop its spread. On certain hills you could look out and see a tree graveyard, a sea of brown dead stumps sticking up out of the hills. It’s apparantly attacking forests across Colorado, Montana and Wyoming, and here they had to just let it run its course, hopefully the forest will start to grow back next year. As I was heading back on Thursday afternoon coasting down a hill I hit the brakes in The Beast and they went soft before engaging… a little scary as you can imagine. Also, not great timing as we were coming into a long weekend in America. I took it to a mechanic Friday morning, who told me it was likely the brake booster had gone; it was drivable, but I needed to get it seen to before I drove too far and he suggested going 30 miles to the next big city as he couldn’t do anything until next week. No one could see The Beast until Monday morning, so I drove to a local campsite and stayed on the beautiful Horsethief Lake for a couple of nights before heading into Rapid City Sunday. As The Beast had to go in to the shop I got a hotel for a couple of nights and ended up at Hotel Alex Johnson, allegedly haunted and built in the 1920s. It certainly has character, but I haven’t seen any ghosts yet, although Lilster seems to jump at random things and leap off the bed. It was good to hang out in a small town for a couple of nights, not least because along with The Beast, Lilster and I were also a little sick - Team Down! - Lily with an infected paw and me with a sinus infection. Clearly the universe was telling us to slow down for a few days, but everyone recovered now. Ventured out for a few drinks in a local pub and discovered the a curious custom of putting olives in beer - I asked a local what it was called he told me ‘beer with olives’ - ah, well, call 'em like you see 'em. Tomorrow fully recuperated we hit the road again and should reach Montana, if the ghosts don’t get us tonight.

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Days 17-22, Aug 27th-Sept 1st, 1000+Mi (I lost count!) Traveled IL, IA, NE, SD BOREDOM, BADLANDS & BISON Oh Iowa, you managed to make Ohio look interesting and that's a pretty low bar. If you ever have the opportunity to drive through Iowa, don't, it's just miles and miles and miles of corn fields and dead straight roads. Adding to the joy of Iowa was driving rain and weird fog that would just roll in and obliterate your view; not that there was a view to ruin. It was hours of very tedious driving, during which I worked out how to use cruise control (probably not something I should have been tinkering with while driving 70mph), which was a god send. I also resorted to trying to find anything interesting to stop off at along the way to break up the tedium. Thanks to Andie and Adam for suggesing the Roadside app, which offers up weird and wonderful things to see along your route. But even here Iowa was woeful. I saw 'The world's largest truck stop' - looked like a mini fun fair... didn't stop - 'The world's largest popcorn ball' - I kid you not, I was bored enough to stop - a private collection of windmills from late 1800's and early 1900's - whizzed passed - and barn quilts - not nearly as exciting as they sound, and they don't sound exciting at all, just big square murals on barns, I don't think they were even quilted. Iowa, you need to try harder, even your 'attractions' are dull as dish water. After days of driving I finaly hit Nebraska, sun came out and the landscape changed (finally!!!) to rolling hills and vast swathes of prairie, it was glorious. I headed up highway 12 which followed the Lewis & Clark Trail up the Missouri river and stopped at a gorgeous campgrounds where the Niobrara river meets the Missouri and one of Lewis & Clark's campsites. I was the only person in my area, so it felt like we were camping out on the prairie underneath a million stars. After two wonderful hikes in the Niobrara state park I headed into South Dakota my sights set on Badlands. We had a mammoth day, which packed in a lot, but my senses needed stimulating. So started at 1880 town, a recreated town where every building dated from 1880's to early 1900's and had been brought and rebuilt from all over SD, it was like stepping back in time. Amazingly Lilster was allowed into the town and even into the buildings. It needed a bit of TLC, but was well worth a stop and look around. Then onto the Badlands, a landscape of rock formations that suddenly looms out of the prairie and makes you feel like you've landed on another world. I have to admit I was more impressed by the Badlands than the Grand Canyon, maybe my expectations were lower, but it's a really amazing geological phenomenon. Pale yellow, blush pink and a bewildering array of grey rock strata loom up and canyon down. It was worth bashing through Iowa to see this. Next stop, Mt Rushmore, I have to be honest until a few days before I didn't even know which state it was in, but again another site that I was more impressed with than I thought I would be. Then I headed across to Custer State Park where after 10 days on the road I decided I needed a little R&R and booked a wonderful little cabin - hello showers and clean sheets! It was amazing to see the scenery shift again, now to looping mountain roads that wound up through huge pine forests abundant with wildlife. I'd only seen a bison (or buffalo, it's the same animal in case you wondered... because I did) in the distance and all of a sudden a herd was ambling across the highway - you can only go 35mph through the park, so no real danger of hitting one. They are magnificant beasts, surprisingly graceful with their almost leonine heads; weighing up to 2,000 pounds there was no question who had right of way, although Lilster started to growl at them, muppet. Then around the bend a beautiful big horn sheep and around another a mule deer with its proud antlers watching the road. It was a prairie country safari. What a day! And now for a few days' break from long drives and exploration of Custer & Black Hills parks.

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Days 14-17, Aug 24th-27th, Traveled 894Mi, PA, OH, IN

Travel totals to date: Traveled: 2395Mi States visted: 10 - NJ, NY, RI, CT, MA, NH, ME, PA, OH, IN Time on the road: 17 days

GREAT LAKES & MILKSHAKES

I took the glorious RT 6 all the way through Pennsylvania’s rolling hills and beautiful small towns to Lake Erie in OH. On the way we camped in Lyman Run State Park overlooking Lyman Run Resevoir and then on to Geneva State Park on the shores of Lake Erie.

I’ve been trying to clock some miles to get to Montana’s Glacier National Park before it gets too cold, so switched to the interstate to zip through Ohio. I’m sure Ohio has some beautiful areas, but all I saw was flat, dull land and driving rain. Almost as soon as we hit Indiana’s state line the clouds parted and it was sunny again. Sorry Ohio, but you didn’t leave much of an impression.

In Indiana I lucked out at a the beautiful Pokagan State Park where we had a huge site nestled back into the forest and a wide range of hikes from the back door of the van. Forests, marsh, tranquil lakes and a few garter snakes greeted us on hikes that we did both in the afternoon and following morning before hitting the road again through to almost the Indiana/Illinois border and tonight we’re camping on the edge of Lake Michigan at the Indiana Dunes State Park.

I’ve almost exclusively been camping in state and federal parks and been really impressed with how well these campsites are run and maintained, but the two in Indiana have been the standout ones so far - super clean, great facilities and lots of activities such as kayaking, horse riding along with really well looked after trails.

In between the hiking and driving I’ve been searching out diners in little towns; there are some brilliant old school ones still in existence with jukebox machines, checkered linoleum floors and great really reasonably priced food. Today I stopped at the beautiful Northside Diner in Chesterton where I’d intended to order a milkshake; I had a hankering for that diner cliche and then completely forgot as I was immersed in the extensive 10 page menu! Ah well, a milkshake can be on the cards for tomorrow’s diner visit.

Hoping to make it all the way to the Mississipi on the border between Illinois and Iowa tomorrow, but I’ll see how the driving hours go - thank goodness for audiobooks! Hours of being immersed in another world whilst driving is brilliant… although I tried listening to Kerouac’s classic ‘On the Road’ and found it rather tedious - is it just me? Or am I missing something?!

Onwards in the milkshake quest tomorrow.

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Days 10-13, Aug 20-23 Traveled 258 Mi, MA, RI, CT, NY BLOCK ISLAND BEAUTY On 20th Aug I had a brillant morning at the Science of Pixar exhibition in Boston. As with their movies it was designed with both adults and kids in mind and very interactive... ok so I may have nudged a couple of kids off some of the interactive parts so I could have a go. Really well done, and just incredible to see the hugely complex process of making even one frame of a film. Then after over a week in The Beast she was left behind for the first time as we took the ferry to Block Island to visit my great friend Jess and her family. It was odd leaving The Beast as it already felt like home, but I'd visited Jess in BI two years ago and loved the island, so couldn't pass up the chance to visit her there again... with the added bonus that her family has a beautiful house which would also mean three nights of luxurious sleeping and showering (not small things in my world these days). Lilster took like the proverbial duck to water on the ferry. She loves the sea and was head and ears up as we lauched off on the quick 30min ride over to BI from Point Judith. Jess and her husband Jon and their two kids Izzy & Mikey were there to greet us at the ferry terminal. The kids were a little weary of a dog, but Lilster was pretty well behaved and she tends to sense when people don't want to be her instant friend. The next three days were a glorious mix of walking, beaches and BBQs. We also walked the 'sacred labyrinth' appropriately named by Izzy as 'walking round in circles' - which is exactly what it was. We were meant to be meditating on a question we wanted an answer to, but Jess and I didn't read the instructions until after we'd walked the labyrinth (don't call it a maze!) and had instead chatted the whole way round; not sure what that will do for our karma. On the final night we headed for dinner at the Atlantic Hotel and watched the sunset over New Shoreham Harbor as we dined on an eclectic, but delicious tapas selection. Not sure what the chef was thinking when he combined spicy chicken and blue cheese on top of a big plate of fries, but it was delicious. If you ever have the opportunity to visit BI, take it. It's an island that's still retained much of its historical integrity with the vast majority of buildings and houses still done in traditional wooden shingle that has aged to a wonderful ash grey. I sadly waved goodbye as we took the ferry back to the mainland today and then drove across Connecticut and back into New York. The campsite I picked for tonight is in Clarence Fahnstock State Park, which looked lovely on the website, but I chose the site poorly and we're backed onto the parkway, so not exactly the tranquil setting I was hoping. Tomorrow we make like the Pet Shop Boys and 'Go West' (or maybe that's just make like Go West if we want to name other 80's bands). Route 6 is meant to be particularly scenic and I loved the bit we did in Cape Cod - it's also the route Jack Kerouac wanted to take all the way to the West until he was stumped before he even set off. I'm going to wing it tomorrow and not book a campsite in advance and see how far I can get and then when I'm getting tired of driving look for somewhere... this has the recipe for disaster, so let's see how I go!...West!