Quick update

In, of all places, North Pole Alaska. Its been a long drive through amazing terrain. Out the front of a Safeway store looking for a hotel. My 1st since Montana. The laptop is having big issues connectong to wifi. I thpugjt for awhile that fast food outlets had wised up and were building faraday cages into all buildings to stop the leachers!

Canada Oh Canada

Made it from Glacier Mational Park to Cranbook, BC. I had to get some money out amd this was the first listed bank.
At least they use metric here but still drive on the wrong side of the road... Too bad they dont play cricket but they would probably be crap at it!

Michigan State

The Ford Rouge/Dearborn factory tour was really interesting. The complex keeps going beyond the far stacks which I believe were an onsite steel mill

The best car on display in the Henry Ford Museum was this one by far!

1968 XR7-G

On the way back into Detroit city the Jeeps inbuilt GPS decided to take me too West Woodward street. After pulling off the freeway and noticing the smoking ruin of a house, the car driven into a pole and left there and the houses crumbling to the ground in disrepair I was stabbing the "lock doors" button with my finger and turning down the East Woodward road. The road ends right at the Tigers stadium where I paid $25 for parking and went to the pub

My Jeep in the foreground

Play ball!

I am not really a baseball fan they but they do put on a good show

I am however a fast track NASCAR fan and Michigan is the fastest

Jeff Gordon turning right for the 1st time in the day

Scribing a new line on the track

Great time! The sound of the cars is phenomenal. I had stumped up extra cash for the Budweiser Acceleration pack but it was not really worth it.

I was feeling pretty good after the race and so headed the 300 miles literally due south to Dayton to a rest area 25 miles away from the Museum of the United States Airforce. In doing so it meant I wasn't going to Chicago or crossing Lake Michigan in a jet cat to Milwaukee but I thought it was worth it.
I was inline early and got may name down on the "presidential Hanger tour" which is on the active air force base. A bus took us to the hangers. One has the ex-Airforce One type planes including Kennedy's that took him back to Washington after the assassination. The other hanger was the Research-Experimental. It basically houses billions of dollars invested in, at the time, bleeding edge technology. The show case for me was the Mach 3 bomber

it completely dwarfs the F-23 Black Window underneath (it which itself is larger than an F-15) and an AN-12 (SR-71) parked to my left parallel to it. It is hard to take photos as the planes are jammed in there and the lighting is not the best

They do intend to build a 4th hanger in the public museum to house all these Gems. It really is a unique display.

Post Haste

Left Ottumwa for the Strategic Air Command museum on state roads. These were more direct and definitely more interesting than the interstate but slower overall. The SAC was good with some unique air craft on display. I am now in Stirling Colorado after doing 80 miles an hour for about 7 hrs. I have now been through two time zones in two days. On entering Colorado we went through the most intense lightning display I have driven through and then got hammered by some heavy rain.

Exit Pennsylvania

I am going to update this with pictures,  a grammar check and spell check on when i get laptop access.
Exited via the south bank and a place called Primanti brothers. The sandwich tasted pretty good but was a patty not steak so will have to check what it was supposed to be.
I am in the  Detroit Beer Co enjoying a Hefeweizen or more before the game. I have a pretty awesome ticket it seems and looks to be a sell out judging from the number of people approaching me to see if i was selling tickets - this is 3hrs before the gates open.
I followed the Ohio river for a fair way northish before going towards Kent. The state university there was the scene of the May 4th 1970 shooting of students during a peaceful anti war protest. It has been a place i have wanted to visit for some time but i am not even sure why however it was as thought provoking and symbolic as many war memorials i have been too. the incident was commemorated on campus with a moving tribute. This part of Ohio is really beautiful with many small towns white boarded houses heaps of flags and pickups the dominant car species.
After that i headed to the shores of lake Erie in the Cleveland downtown area and then to another  rib joint. Pictures on the wall of  luminaries such as Charlie Sheen (im not sure he knew what city he was in from the picture) Samuel Jackson and the late Robyn Williams.
(picture tobeuplaoded)
These were amazing ribs!
I slept in a rest area somewhere between Cleveland and Toledo, woke up and drove to the GM building on the lake front of Detroit. With so much time to spare i decide to save a day and see the Henry Ford museum. This is the product of another eccentric billionaire industrialist but quite different to Carnegie's. The closest parallel i know of in Australia is the Museum of Australia on the old hospital site in Canberra. There is no real focus other than 'America' and that would seem enough as it was very interesting, in particular the massive steam engines of many different types. Not sure if Ford was the original curator but some of the stuff was awesome and probably not on display anywhere else. There was also some mundane stuff like an  early 80's Honda Civic.?? Bu t i think i 'get it ' in that this was an important car literally and symbolically, post oil crisis.
I also went on the rouge factory tour where Ford spits out 1200 F-150's a day. This was really interesting as we had an elevated gantry walk around the main assembly line. I also confirmed that yes Cougars were made in this complex so it is like i have been to my cars delivery ward  B-) ...... :X

Steel City

The reason for going to Dayton Ohio was for the Museum of the United States Airforce located on Wright-Patterson Airforce base. It had an enormous number of aircraft on display and some real rare ones like a B2 bomber and what they took pains to not describe as "Two Mustangs fused together" but in reality looks completely like two mustangs fused togther

Not! two Mustangs joined at the wing

There are 3 long 'sheds' split between the major war epochs.
My favoutite was always going to be the Cold War section

that's a mock up Shuttle in the background

 Unfortunatly for me the plane I really wanted to see, the Mach 3 XB-70 Valkryie is on display in what they call the Presidential Hangar which is located on an active part of the Airforce base and accessed by tour only. Bookings open at 9am on the day so I will have to see if I can come back to check it out.Regardless I spent about 5 hours in there, literally not realising how long it was until I got back in the car. Coming out of the AFB onto the I70 the traffic stopped and we spent about 40 minutes in a slow shuffle covering about 2 miles. I had run out of cash by this time so was looking for a Bank of America atm but there wasn't one found on any of my maps (Open Street Maps, MS Map Point 2013 and the inbuilt Jeep GPS) except for the CBD of Pittsburgh. I had heaps of fuel and some Muesli bars so was not too worried and decided to aim for a Rest Stop on the way to sleep the night.

Next day I kept on the inter state until it veered north to Pittsburgh. I decided to go east onto local roads and hit one of the rivers that lead north to the city. The road follows the river closely and passes some crazy industrial complexes. Steel mills, coal handling facilities and some sort of chemical plants. I am sure they could not be built with today's regulations

After finding a hotel I went to the southern bank which gives a great outlook of the city and too me anyway was made famous by the film Jack Reacher in which a car with the bad guy drives west along the road followed by the camera in a helicopter

The view is superb. I am sure a documentary could be made, located only in Pittsburgh, on the evolution of the steel bridge as there are many examples and if a major archetype does not exist in present day Pittsburgh would have been replaced by an existing bridge.
I was lucky - my hotel was in walking distance of the Carnegie Museum whose founder was one of the major industrialists of the US and for a long time owned a huge percentage of the steel industry. I am happy to say I got my Dinosaur fix :)

The T-Rex behind is real bones. The other is a cast from another fossil

Carnegie Museum

The Carnegie was an unexpected surprise and really worth it. The animal displays were the most life like I have ever seen.
After that I caught a bus down town and checked out the sites. It is a pretty city and one I would like to live in (If I got one of the apartments on the South Bank with the awesome views) however there were 5 stabbings last night so it has a got quite a few issues.
Behind me is the start of the Ohio river at the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers. In front of the water fountain was a historic fort.

It has cooled down a lot from the steamy coast and 'The South' so is a lot more pleasant at night. Last night in Pittsburgh it got into the high 40's which is fairly unseasonal but doesn't worry me. I like it. So far the weather has been brilliant with for the main, sunny days and maybe a few hours of rain at most. This may change as the Detroit area and the North East states have had some heavy flash flooding. I am on my way to see the NASCAR race in Michigan on Sunday so am hoping it will remain fine and I do not miss the race.

Southern Recap

In the North Carolina town of Wilmington is the aptly named USS North Carolina.

Its the namesake of the North Carolina class of battleships (there were 2), the first modern US battleships and took part in the battle of the Coral sea. This one was retired after the end of WWII and was only upgraded in small ways - it is basically in stock configuration. It has had been opened up to self guided tours. I was able to go into the engine rooms and also the magazine.

look how thick the wall is

I would have tried to take a picture of the full length of the ship but it's dock has been dredged out of the swamp and there were alligator warning signs up - not worth it! These battleships are smaller/shorter than the Iowa class with shorter length main armament but still look awesome. 

After this I drove to Charleston, South Carolina where the USS York Town carrier is located

This was another excellent museum exhibit. Below decks were  mostly turned into a WWII Pacific history lesson with beautiful models made of a lot of the major ships of the war and major actions. I am assuming that it was only retired in the mid 70's because of the significance of it's name and had been upgraded a few times including a major flight deck reconfiguration

I'm glad I wasn't born a submariner. This sub had its WW2 style tower replaced with this more modern one but it was really cramped. Extra rations and being able to wear a beard in the navy would not make up for this job

Little Update

From Marion I went the scenic route through the Appalachians into Kentucky via some areas which are renowned for knocking the top off mountains too get at the coal seams found throughout these fold mountains. The little towns are basically strip towns in the base of the valleys. The roads follow the valleys and underlaid by the old rail ways that transported all the coal out of this place last century. The scenery is beautiful and what I expected. Quite a few dirt tracks and very steep one lane roads but worth it. Came into Kentucky via the Daniel Boone national Park and into some of the richest country side I have ever seen. Horse and Cattle  studs abound. Its like the Hunter Valley only going on for 100's of miles. I had a superb meal at a place called Cynthiana. The locals were surprised I was there but I am using a web site called www.ridetoeat.com. I was able to extract the places the website had reviewed and then import them into the mapping software on my laptop. This is proving invaluable in finding awesome out of the way food outlets and I would highly recommend it to anyone. I would have driven past this place:

Ridetoeat gave it 5 stars and it was roughly on my intended route north. I would give it 5 stars as well. After seeing all the Bovine delights out the window of the car I couldn't resist

Everything fresh and local although I heard different things about the steak. America seems locked into the idea of raising cattle on beautiful pastures and then transporting them big distances to intensive feed lots where they get fed corn and whatever bulk grain is cheapest and then walk around in their own waste and then shipped back in sealed packages. One waitress said the meat was local so I will go with that.

I just arrived in Pittsburgh and am booking a hotel. I think there's a baseball game on so will check out tickets for that. I really like this end of Pennsylvania

In Colombia I was staying in a place so bad I was the only tenant. Shitsville, SC.
I did some shopping at an REI store in Charlotte then went to the NASCAR hall of fame. It was pretty good though I was a bit underwhelmed. It was interesting but probably better as a kid or taking a kid there.

 I didn't see KY Bush's Gibson in any of the display cases (NASCAR In joke: when presented with the winning trophy, which is a Gibson Guitar, he smashed it on the track trying to be like a rock star and thus earning my Life Time Wanker Award)

 To be honest I actually enjoyed going to the Rousch Fenway race HQ more as they had some great displays and, I imagine, all the race trophies and paraphernalia of a life of racing for a large team

The cars were not props, and there was a lot of them, as they are in the condition they ended the race in.

I had assumed the driver keeps the trophies??? Maybe they had donated them - I am not sure.
After that and having a look at the Richard Petty Motorsports base which is right next door I had a look at the race track then drove to a town called Marion.
I just had the best BBQ ribs I have ever had and am sitting in the car leaching wifi from the inevitable town McDonald's.

Half rack(10) ribs are on the left plate. I ate them with a fork they were that tender and juicy. Nuggety things are made of corn and are quite nice. I didn't touch the beans and the round balls are called Hushpuppies - unidentifiable ingredients but tasty. Right plate has cheesy fries covered in their BBQ pulled pork: Unbelievable. They are more like Australian chips and not the usual thin greasy french fries. Next hotel I stay at I will post more as I am missing some good days on some WWII Museums.

Big Update

Everything started well. Got up, to the metro and the right train was pulling onto the platform as I came down the escalator. Had to wait 1 minute for the airport shuttle bus to depart from the closest station to Dulles airport and then stepped onto the car hire shuttle bus without waiting.
I am not sure what happened but somehow I have ended up with an upgraded car.

I thought only wankers drove these but I must be wrong!

I drove the short distance to the Smithsonian Air and Space museum (9kms) and spent the next hours in a camera clicking frenzy. Thanks Ram! - it is much better than the museum in Washington. The lighting is a little dim so almost every shot required the flash (They had signs up to say they were in the process of fixing this) but even still I have never flattened a full battery in one session. As you come in you can see the Shuttle right out the back:

There is a big focus on missiles and rockets and the best collection of obscure WWII German tech I have seen. Thermojet version of a Kamikaze flying bomb. I am pretty sure fighter aircraft could fly almost twice as fast as this so it really was a suicide machine

Recently declassified photo I just took-note the drive shaft

The F35 above was the first plane to do a short take off and then fly supersonic.

P51C

After this I drove to Richmond and had a quick look at the track there although unfortunately all gates were closed. When the race goes to this track it must completely dominate the local town. The track is surrounded by the small town with only local roads in and out so it would be a parking lot for the entire event.
I tried to see a famous gun called Anzio Annie at Fort Lee which was a famous World War II rail gun but although it shows up on Google, it has now been moved or partially dismantled. The guard at the front gate thought I was a little crazy but after checking my passport and a phone call let me in to see "the gun on rails":

not Anzio Annie

Its an active base with many troops of chanting trainees.
I then drove to Newport News intending to get a hotel but couldn't find one so spent the night in the car out the front of a conference Centre. The seats fold down in the back and I easily fit lying at an angle.
Newport News is were the US Navyies aircraft carriers are built. Whislt driving around I got some good views of ones in various stages of construction but felt a bit exposed taking photos when blocking traffic with the car. I thought I could see one from a public vantage point but its the USS Enterprise being decommissioned. 65 was the first nuclear aircraft carrier. There is a new carrier being fitted out behind it.

 Right across the bay were 2 operational carriers tied up at the naval base but I really came here to see the battleship Wisconsin moored right in the downtown area

I didn't go on board this ship as opening time was about 3 hours away and I had read access was limited to the deck area. There was also a boat tour of the navy base which would have been awesome but was 4 hours away. I would definitely come back to Norfolk to go on that tour.
This plane appeared to be stuck on a stand protruding out of the Nautico building for some reason??

After that I headed to Virginia beach and then for some reason drove down the coast along the sand islands that form the barrier between the Atlantic and Pamlico sound. This really is an insane place to live as the islands are meters above sea level (the road surface appeared to be the highest point in many cases) and large storms like a hurricane must wipe them clean regularly. Yet, despite this, there are large clusters of wooden buildings on stilts - some 3-4 stories tall. Smart people appear to truck in rocks and assorted land fill and build a plateau then build a stilt house on that. I can only imagine the knowing nods to sanity the owners do when in storm the Atlantic decides to flood into the Pamlicoo and their block is the only piece of land above water level for 30 miles or so. The road ends in a Ferry which takes me to Orakoke Island and a short drive later another ferry. The 1st ferries were leaving every 5 minutes or so, the 2nd ferry to Cedar Island didn't leave to 8pm and it was 5:30pm. So I had power kip and waited.
By 11:30 I stopped for the night at a State rest stop in Morehead City. These are really well fitted out and I felt safe

I have created a new page called "2014 GPS trail" which I hope will show up soon. I will do some more photo updates as I visited another battleship today and am staying at a hotel surrounded by freeways in Charleston, South Carolina tonight.

Days in DC

Got out of Metro and started taking photos of anything remotely ornate. After quite a few I realised I had left the SD card in the laptop back at the hotel so had to resort to the Tablet.

The guy under the tree on the left has got a gun to shoot any dogs going to poop on the lawn

This is much bigger than what I thought it was going to be. Quite impressive

If you look closely there is a sign that says "Quiet Respect Please". I don't think anyone else saw it as it sounded like the food court at any Mawl.

Ben's House

Next day I decided to see some Smithsonian museums. 1st up the Air & Space just after opening time

Impressive displays. More focused on the space side of things.
I also went to the Natural History Museum and the West wing of the National Gallery of Art.

The Natural History Museum was a little disappointing. The animal displays were great but I thought there would be more dinosaurs....bit spoilt. The Gallery of Art was really awesome with more name brand artists than I have ever seen. I am no authority but even I recognbised room after room of paintings by notables.
My only gripe was the apparent lack of north American Landscapes as this is my favorite type so I am going to look into it on my last full day.

My Hotel

The World Of Beer had great beer but the food lacked a little. Plus the music was too loud and bad

My Hotel is the brown brick building in the background
There must be a thousand TV's in the Buffalo Wild Wings

Have been crook

Unfortunately I picked up some sort of Flu either in transit or in NYC. I thought it was just a head cold but have now transformed into the green Flem monster. Yesterday (02/08) I thought I felt better and left my hotel without taking any anti-congestion or pain tablets to go into Washington around the Capitol building area but only made it about 500 meters from the Subway entrance before getting really woozy and having to sit on a park bench for about half an hour and then returned back to the hotel to hibernate. It was a great view though so not all bad. Its really annoying to say the least. Luckily they had a movie fest on one of the channels.

There seems to be a problem using the "Blogger" Android app and the HTML editor so some posts appeared to have disappeared:

Philadelphia is a really nice city. At least the bits I saw around the central city area. I took a hop on hop off tour bus around the city but the main thin I wanted to see was the Battleship USS New Jersey

Awesome! I didn't know it was built just across the river in WW2 so this makes it a really fitting place for its final home. According to the guys on board this was the representative US ship in Sydney Harbour during the Bicentennial celebrations. Great exhibit well laid out and worth the trip. I was a little disappointed it wasn't as open as the USS Alabama in Mobile but they may be working on that.

The bus tour dropped me off near the ferry to go across the Delaware River but before that it went past the steps made famous by Rocky I. Some people started the run up the steps but only 1 made it to the top.... its not that many steps.
The Philadelphia downtown area has some beautiful buildings in it. They have gone all Parisian.

Feeling better to today. I was at the Sheraton Pentagon city but have moved to the Holiday Inn in at Ballston. I decided to take it easy after yesterdays fail and am watching the NASCAR race at a place called "The World of Beer"

Grumman F11F1 Tiger

FireTruck!

Grand Central Station