U.S.A. - Bikeless

The characters

Rita: My Internet friend.
Tessy: Rita's sister.
Tina and Michael: Rita's sister and husband.
Bill and Lorraine: Rita's friends and at whose house Rita and I were living at.

The Push Bike

In an effort to obtain more freedom of transport, I invested in a push bike. Yes, the foot powered variety.

The bike.

I had walked into the CBD of Salem (about 2 miles) and I was tired and sore. My back was killing me and my feet weren't much better. There just had to be a better way of getting around. I spotted the bike shop and bought the cheapest bike they had and a helmet (it's the law you know!) - $125. The trip home was much more speedy and comfortable.

DUKW (or DUCK for the uninitiated.)

I decided on a trip to Boston and pedalled to the railway station and took the train into Boston. ($12 return.) I rode to the Museum of Science and booked a spot on the Duck Tour. (Twenty something dollars.) The vehicles are old World War Two DUKW vehicles. Six wheel drive and amphibious. One of the tour operators thought 'sitting duck' might be more apt as they could only do five miles per hour in the water.

For those with an engineering background DUKW breaks down to

• D - Built in 1942.
• U - Utility, read amphibious.
• K - All wheel drive.
• W - Two powered axles.

The Duck.

The tour was great value, as it lasted about 90 minutes and two thirds of that time was driving through Boston streets with lots of information on historic sites, etc.
The driver was very entertaining and spun all sorts stories. (What do you call a boomerang that doesn't come back? A stick!)
He was wearing a black jacket. At the top of the left sleeve were the words "Port". At the top of the right sleeve were the words "Starboard". At the bottom of the back of his jacket were the words "Poop Deck".

After the tour it was about 4:00, so I headed back to the railway station only to find that the conductor wouldn't let me on the train in the 'peak hours'. I rang 'home' and reached an answering machine. I just left the simple message that the earliest I could get back to Salem would be on the 7:30 train. The next train I was allowed on with a push bike would be at 7:30 pm. To kill time I just rode around the city and had dinner at Faneuil Hall, the only place I could find that allowed me to have dinner (pizza) and keep an eye on the push bike. Arrived back at the station at 7:10 and waited for the 7:30 train. No problems this time.
As it was now dark, I had planned the ride 'home' on the footpath. As it turned out, there was Bill waiting for me, so I had an easy ride home.

Eric Clapton Concert

Took the train to Boston and attended a Eric Clapton Concert held at the TD Banknorth Garden (Fleet Center). This is incredibly convenient, as you exit the train and you're at the entrance to the theatre. We had dinner at 'Harps', very convenient, just across the road. We shared a Nachos, which was supposed to be an entree, but was 'Main' sized.

The support act was The Robert Cray Band. Eric was rather ambivalent to those around him and didn't even sing his own encore 'Crossroads' but had Robert Cray sing it for him.

The best thing about the concert was that one of the guitarists hired by Mr Clapton was Derek Trucks. Man oh man can this young man play a guitar. He was the best thing about the concert. Derek has his own concert coming up but unfortunately all of the tickets are sold. I may have to resort to paying scalpers.

James Taylor Concert

Took the 5:30 pm train to Boston to attend a James Taylor, One Man Band concert held at the Wang Centre. We had planned to got to 'Harps' again, but they had just closed. What a strange time to close. We ended up having dinner at 'Fours'.

Took a taxi to the Wang Centre. Wow, what an ornate venue. Lots of gold glint, Greek themes, etc. Certainly from a different time.

Our seats were up in the balcony, five seats from the back wall and let me tell you the seats were small, very small. My knees were up against the seat in front of me, most uncomfortable. As for the width of the seats, lets say snug would be a good description. The angle of the floor could also be described a extreme, Rita was dizzy from the height.

The stage was a long, long way away. I was glad there was one large screen, so maybe things won't be that's bad. As things turned out the screen was for snapshots of his past. Not quite what I expected.

Mr Taylor said he took the low-tech route for the show, but that wasn't quite accurate, for the following reasons:

• The show was advertised as a one man band. I had images of a solo show. Not so, Mr Taylor used the services of keyboard player. I guess that is a 'one man band'.
  
  
• Mr Taylor used a 'drum machine' for two songs. Now let me make it clear this used no modern technology. If you imagine an old fashioned music box magnified perhaps one hundred times, then you would have some idea what this drum machine was. It was completely mechanical, a quite marvellous contraption.
  
  
• Mr Taylor used a laptop which hooked up to the big screen to play in sync with a choir for a couple of songs. The choir even took a bow. How did he do that?

Mr Taylor never got out of second gear rhythm wise, so the whole show was very laid back. Glad I got the chance to see him perform though.

Rain: The Beatles Experience

I tried booking tickets over the Internet from TicketMaster but that proved impossible. They just cant handle a VISA card with an Australian billing address. I read the fine print on the web page and located a telephone number. I rang the number and reached a robot that passed me onto a voice recognition robot. Now the fun starts, the robot can't understand a thing that I'm saying. Finally I reach a human and make the booking. Strangely, the price is cheaper than the Internet price?

Took the 5:48 train to Boston to attend The Rain concert at the Boston Opera House. We had planned to eat at 'Harps' but we just ran out of time. This was not bad planning but real life getting in the way. We had just left the Lynn station when the comes to a halt. The driver announces that there will be a delay as there has been an attempted suicide and they have to wait for police. Originally the driver announced that they hit someone, but that was downgraded. After about twenty minutes the train starts moving again, but are travelling slowly. As we reach the top of the bridge across a river the train stops again. I can see the lights of Boston through the window. The driver announces that they have run over something on the track and that one of the hoses has been damaged. Great. After about fifteen minutes the lights go out leaving only emergency lighting and us wondering what's going on, no more announcements. After another fifteen minutes the lights are restored but we still don't move for another ten minutes. There goes our dinner time.

Finally arrive in Boston around 7:10 and grab a McDonalds meal as a substitute dinner and then quickly find a taxi and are driven to the Opera House. The traffic is banked up everywhere, so we walk the final half block as it's quicker. Pick up the tickets and make our way to our seats. The seats are only five rows from the front of the stage, what good fortune. The theatre is similarly ornate as the Wang Centre, but a little less intricate.

The show was great entertainment. The guys who played The Beatles are very professional, great entertainers and good musicians to boot. Most impressed with their voices, they sounded just like the originals. The amount of detail in the show was amazing. Just about every public photograph of 'The Beatles' that I have seen is mocked up with 'The Rain' in their place. Simply a very satisfying show.

I decided that we could walk back to the station, but harpooned any chance we had by turning right instead of left. After half an hour I admitted defeat and hailed a taxi to take us to the railway station. The trip home was uneventful.

I was reading the paper the next day and read an article describing a successful train suicide at roughly the same time on a Boston bound train. A pact? Very sad.

Jerry Douglas

I missed seeing Jerry Douglas perform in Boston tonight and am very unhappy about the situation. As I was having dinner I spotted a 'Must See' section in the Boston Globe and there's one article about Paul Simon and his support act, The Jerry Douglas Band.

So close and yet so far. Very, very sad.

In a Pigs Eye

In a Pigs Eye is a small restaurant just a little east of the Derby Wharf and has a bit of live music, hence the attraction. They run music Monday, Thursday and Friday. Monday is an 'Open Mic' night, Thursday is local duo's night and Friday is an afternoon Blues jam.

The first night we attended was a Thursday night function and there didn't seem to be a lot of direction to the night. The next afternoon was the Blues jam and was anything but a blues jam, more like an ego jam.

I've attended two of the 'Open Mic' nights with mixed feelings, non negative.

• The first night felt like I was in a Celtic folk club and I don't think I fitted all that well with my pick of two blues songs.
  I performed 'Got You On My Mind' and 'Way Out West'.
  
  
• The second night felt completely different with no Celtic influence at all. I played two songs slide style and felt that I fitted in.
  The event was rather stressful as I had borrowed a G&L guitar and did a quick modification to raise the string action. I had previously 'blocked off' the tremolo arm function with a peg, bit all the haste the peg fell out and the tremolo arm came back into action. I've forgotten how I could ever tune such an instrument and in the heat of being on stage, performed open heart surgery on the guitar to kill the tremolo arm function. Once that was done the two songs I performed had everybody singing along.
  I performed 'Money for Nothing' and 'Looking out my Backdoor'.
  
  
• Not sure if a third night will happen as it's the height of Halloween. I was assured on the second night there would be a third night so who knows?
  I checked again today, there will be no third night.

Museum of Science

I borrowed Rita's car and drove to the Museum of Science just north of Boston. Predictably I got lost just before the Tobin Memorial Bridge. Upon back tracking there were signs everywhere on how to get to the bridge. There is a $3 toll to get into Boston, but no toll on the way back.

Parked in the MoS car park. I found out at the end of the day that the charge would be $12.

I bought a ticket to get into the hall and extra tickets for the Planetarium and the 3-D theatre. You need to do a bit of planning here as in the interests of variety what is presented changes from session to session.

The Planaterium theme was 'The Moon' and it covered a lot of territory from ancient to modern. I liked the fact that an actor took us through three acts to explain concepts and included audience participation. Unfortunately for the actor he didn't have a large audience to work with.
The best part for me was the stars displayed by the Zeiss projector, just fantastic, not to mention the two million dollar price tag. I pushed my luck and waited for all of the patrons to leave before asking the lady operator if she could show me Polaris. She obligingly closed all the doors, turned out the lights and turned on the Zeiss projector and there were those fantastic stars again. With the aid of a light pointer she explained to me how to find Polaris, which is in the tail of the Little Dipper for those of you who don't know. I was quite surprised to see how much we have in common with us Southerners. The Northerners use the same technique of using some of the obvious stars in the Big Dipper to point to the Little Dipper, much like we use the pointers of Centaurus to point to the Southern Cross. She also showed me where the planets were but unfortunately they are all to close to the sun to be visible.

SkyWalk

Made the trip into Boston again using Rita's car and this time took route 1A. Not a good move, especially in Boston as the tunnel is being repaired. After a very long sequence of detours and one way streets I finally found where I was on the map.

I navigated to the address of the Prudential Building but only found a construction zone. Using a bit of deduction I located the car park on the other side of the building. Took the elevator to the fiftieth floor, paid $11 and I was in. In what you may ask? The fiftieth floor is simply a floor that has carpet on it and nothing else but superb views of Boston. A lot of static displays on the inner wall and an audio device to give you information about what you are looking at. Just enter the appropriate number and a happy voice rabbited on. I found this device tedious after about a minute and never used it again. The person doing the narrating was just too 'entertaining', I couldn't stand him!

The trip home was somewhat easier, but still had a few different hurdles to jump. Like roads that split into two for no obvious reason until you get to the end and are forced into a direction you don't want to go. All good fun.

My Birthday

My birthday seemed like a simple thing, one day one party. That proved not to be the case.

• Went out for dinner at Applebee's and unknowingly to me, Bill had organised the staff to sing Happy Birthday for me. This involved a member of the staff leading the remaining staff in a call-response type of behaviour. This involved much hand clapping.
  
  
• I was given a party a Rita's sisters (Tina's) house. A quiet party which suited my needs perfectly. I of course put on a show for my guests. We all had a great time.
  
  
• Had dinner at Tessy's house and more celebrations and another show.
  
  
• Travelled to Lorraine's sisters house in New Hampshire and yet another birthday. Put on another show.

Derek Trucks Concert

I was most fortunate to see the Derek Trucks Band in concert at that Berkley Performance Center along with the Susan Tedeschi Band.

I had been trying for tickets all month and had decided to try and buy a ticket off the street. As it turned out, there was a late sale of 'real' tickets so I didn't miss out. What I did miss was a workshop put on by the bands. Only Berkley students were allowed entry.

Derek Trucks again played in that unique style that he has which again had me on the edge of my seat in places. Very fortunate to have seen him perform again. I bought all of the CD's that he had for sale at the merchandising area.

Getting home proved to be a bit of a problem, I just couldn't find Route 1 and spent forty minutes, and several trips to South Boston before escaping. Not as easy getting home as the SkyWalk day.

Halloween in Salem

I had originally planned to leave the U.S.A. at the end of October, but Rita talked me into staying for Halloween and I'm very glad that I did. I decided to get into the spirit of things and rent a 'suit'. The suit I selected was a Santa Clause suit as I figured I would be more comfortable and accessible to other people. You wouldn't believe the number of people that just had to say '"Hi" to Santa. The best part was the reaction that children had to me, and that was to wave and say "Hi". One child in particular was taken by my image and asked her mother for a torch so she could examine me more closely. After the examination, she further wanted to check my beard. She exclaimed "It's real!". Precious memories.

A real surprise was one man who recognised me from the 'Mic Night' at the Pigs Eye. "You're that dude from Australia that played at 'The Pig' aren't you? Enjoyed your set!" How does that happen? I'm dressed up in a Santa suit!

Santa with two helpers.

Disneyland (LA)

Took the shuttle that runs from the hotel to the entrance of Disneyland. The shuttle of course drops us off as far as possible from the entrance at around 10:00 am. After a fairly long walk we arrive at a gazebo style structure where all our bags are searched. I asked the person doing the searching what they were searching for. "Knives and other dangerous objects!" Having passed that test (I was actually told to do more shopping as my bag was empty.) we bought two one-day tickets for the Disneyland Park and Disney's California Adventure. I'm not sure why, but we first went to the California Adventure and were surprised to not see the traditional sights. Most strange. We did every ride and show and by 1:00 pm had decided to go to the 'other' park. This is where the fun started and the recognition set in: This place is Disneyland! We didn't have enough time to take in the whole site, but we sure had a lot of fun.

In Disney's California Adventure the following stood out:

• Sun Wheel - This is two Ferris wheels in one. A third of the gondolas are fixed to the outside rim (swing). The other two third of the gondolas are attached to a kidney shaped pipe (swing and slide). As the wheel rotated the gondola was free to move around the pipes periphery which certainly increased the enjoyment of the ride. One more rotation and I would have used the provided 'barf bag'. We took the 'swing' ride first followed by the 'swing and slide' ride.
• Grizzly River Run - A huge inner tube with 8 seats. Rita ended up the wettest.
• Soarin' Over California - An extremely clever simulation of a hang glider ride. Very realistic. I was lifting my feet up to keep them out of the water.
• It's Tough to Be a Bug - A 3-D cartoon with extra effects like being sprayed with acid and smelling the backside of a stink beetle.
• Muppet Vision 3D - A combination of 3-D film and real characters like Waldorf and Statler heckling the film.
• Monsters Inc - For kids, cute and very safe.
• California Screamin' - And scream the riders do, we just watched.
• Maliboomer - More screaming but looked way out of our league.
• Redwood Creek Challenge Trail - I found this a most relaxing place, just like being in a National park.
• Princess Dot Puddle Park - This is an extremely clever demonstration of how water moves. The floor area had about thirty nozzles that squirted water at random intervals for random lengths of time. The physics of it all sucked me in. Julius Sumner Miller would have been impressed with it.

In Disneyland Park we did the following:

• Matterhorn - This was unfortunately closed for repairs. It was Rita's first pick and she was most disappointed.
• Disneyland Railway - We took the train from Fantasyland to Adventureland. Sure beats walking.
• Pirates of the Caribbean - A most complex boat based ride, very impressive.
• Splash Mountain - The old 'Log down the mountain' trick. Everyone was a bit damp by the end of this ride. On this ride you had an opportunity to purchase a picture of how you look at the top of the fifty foot drop. We did.
• Real musicians - From a firehouse band to a jazz band to a Barber Shop Quartet, lovely.

We left looking for food way too late and gave up trying to find a place that didn't serve seafood and had available seats.

We took the shuttle back to the motel and had a meal next door at an Italian restaurant and slept soundly after a most busy day.

Car Rental

When we arrived at LAX, we randomly chose an Avis shuttle bus to obtain a hire car. I conciously avoided the Hertz shuttle from prior experience. Avis had us in a car at a very reasonable rate in hardly any time.
Returning the car was simplicity itself and the shuttle bus had us in LAX most promptly. I'm impressed!

Hollywood/Beverly Hills

We had some time to kill on the last day so we checked out Hollywood and was most surprised at how unglamorous the area is. We just kept moving. Beverly Hills is at the other end of the scale, very classy. I took a picture of the boundary between Beverly Hills and West Hollywood because the change is just so stark.

Getting home

The trip from Los Angeles to Melbourne was a little easier this time but more turbulent. We stopped over again in New Zealand. Took the SkyBus from Tullamarine to Southern Cross Station. Then a train from Melbourne to Morwell and finally a taxi to reach home.

So How Was It?

In a word - fantastic. Best thing I've ever done.

I owe Bill and Lorraine a huge 'Thank you' for allowing me into their home. They are very generous, caring people. I earned the title 'Weirdo', but that was easy to accept.