Hello!

'Wallace in America' is a now complete account of my time away in the USA.

On the 1st November 2006, I set out on a 10 week tour of The States, all thanks to the Nottingham Roosevelt Memorial Travelling Scholarship

I travelled over 7000 miles and visited 11 different states whilst I was out there, and I wrote about as much as possible on this here blog! - ('as much as possible' describes the fact that my two Grandmothers, my Mum and my boss were reading it.......so some things have been saved for the DVD special features.) I've just totalled up the word count actually, and it's longer than my dissertation that I wrote when I was a student........which says a lot!

Whilst in America I visited a number of Universities where I learnt about how they deal with community engagement. I've now returned to my job at Nottingham Trent University with my findings and hope to put them to good use.

As far as this blog goes, the beginning's at the end........which means the first post from my trip can be found right at the bottom of this page. They then follow in sequence one after the other, back up to the top.

You can look at my photos using the PHOTOS! link on the right hand side of the page, and you can follow the Robin and Roosevelt Virtual Scholar on his 40 year road trip by clicking on that link as well. Click here to find out who and what the Robin and Roosevelt Virtual Scholar is.

Lastly, if you've got it, you can use Google Earth to get a look at where I went. I've included coordinates in each of my posts, so all you have to do is copy them into the 'Fly To' box in Google Earth and you'll get a birds eye view of where I was! It'll also help to give you an idea of the distances and journeys that I was making between places.

Anyway. Have a read and I hope you enjoy it. Don't forget to check out the weblink to the Nottingham Roosevelt Memorial Travelling Scholarship, and feel free to E-mail me at the28wall@yahoo.co.uk if you'd like to get in touch for whatever reason.

All the best

Matt Wallace

p.s - (8th March 2007) - You feel free to check out my latest blog - 'Wallace is a runner'

Back home

Nottingham - 52°57'18.26"N 1° 8'57.48"W

I'm sorry that this post has arrived later than I said it would. Things have been a bit busy since I got back, places to go, people to see and stories to tell.

I landed at Heathrow on the morning of Tuesday the 9th January. The flight was fairly rough on the way back so I only caught about 40 minutes kip which meant that by the time I got back to my parents house I was pretty tired. I managed to stay awake though for the rest of the day, catching up in the afernoon with my mate Rob down the Kings Head.

The days since then were spent visiting my grandparents, catching up with other old school friends, getting a filling repaired (in my tooth) and wishing that I was somewhere else about 3 and a half thousand miles west.

On Friday I made the very last and final trip with my bag, by train, from London to Nottingham, and then it really felt like it was all over.

Back at my house I was kind of looking forward to getting used to sleeping back in my own bed again.........but that would have to wait, owing to the all consuming tide of New Orleans flavoured mould that had grown across my wall and onto my duvet, the result of a damp and leaking window that had gone unnoticed during my 3 month absence. I had to sleep on the sofa, in my sleeping bag, one last time.

The weekend gave me a chance to catch up with friends here in Nottingham and the stories about where I'd been gradually became as routine as the answers that I'd been giving in the USA to the people who'd asked me "what brings you here then?".

Sunday's are never a great day as far as I'm concerned, but the latest one was one of the worst, knowing that the very next day the routine day to day stuff that I'd managed to avoid for 3 months was going to have to start again.

So on Monday I was up in time to grab a shower, iron a shirt and eat toast with the accuracy to make sure that I made it into work on time.....just. It's weird actually. I didn't miss a single train, flight or any kind of connection during the entire trip, but the minute I have to be somewhere like work, I'm suddenly not so good a time keeping.

I got to work, sat down, turned on my computer and fired up the E-mails. (I'm fairly sure that somebody's swapped my mouse for a crap one whilst I was away, but it wouldn't be right to point fingers online....... you know who you are) And that's what I've done now for the last two days. I'll keep doing it until the weekend, and then it'll all start over again on the Monday morning coming. It almost feels like nothings changed and I've never been away.......Market Square still isn't finished!

For a while it felt a bit like I don't have much to look forward to now. Over the past 10 weeks I've got used to always having something new to do every few days, travelling to a new place, seeing new sights and meeting new people, but now I'm just back at work.

That doesn't matter though. You can't make trips like the one that I've been on last forever, because if you do, then they're not what you intended them to be in the first place. Doing something different is exciting, but only for as long as it's different. I'll just have to set my mind to thinking about what I might do next.

I've had an amazing time away. The USA is such an awesome country, and there really is no way to ever predict what sort of people you'll meet out there and where you'll meet them. For a country that seems to have so many stereotypes attached to it, I was kept guessing at every turn as to what each place I visited would be like. The people are far more sociable and friendly than we seem to be here in the UK, and when you combine that with thinking about just how big and beautiful the country is, you can be sure that moving around like I did will make for an interesting journey. I can't wait until I can go back.

At lunchtime today, I worked out just how many miles I'd travelled (as the corw flies) around the USA - it comes to 7078 miles. That works out as an average of a fraction under 100 miles a day, which seems like a hell of a lot of travelling. I'd be in great shape, if I hadn't done it all sat on my backside and eating and drinking far too much food that you really shouldn't eat and drink far too much of!

To all the people that I've met along the way, my new friends and my now more familiar family, thanks for having me and I hope I see you again some time soon. There's an invitation for each of you to visit Nottingham and I hope that one day you will. I'd be glad to show you the hospitality that you all showed to me.

In conclusion then, and because some of you have been patient enough to read this far for this long, I'll sign off here. This blog's racked up a total of over 1600 hits at the time of this last post, so thanks for reading and I hope you've enjoyed hearing about some of the things I've been up to for the past 10 weeks. It's good to be back in Nottingham, but I don't think the next 10 weeks would make quite as interesting reading, so this is the end.

All the best

Matt Wallace
Nottingham Roosevelt Memorial Travelling Scholar (sounds official doesn't it!)
2006

Start spreading the news.......

New York City - 40°42'51.00"N 74° 0'23.00"W

.......I'm leaving today! It's the end of ten amazing weeks travelling around the USA thanks to the Nottingham Roosevelt Memorial Travelling Scholarship.

What follows is quite a long post, but I've been up to a lot here in New York.

I arrived on the train from Rocky Mount, North Carolina, late in the evening of Wednesday the 27th December. I caught a cab to the youth hostel and set myself up for 12 nights in New York City. The hostel was massive housing hundreds of people from all over the world. I checked in and headed to my room praying that the Buffalo tornado man wasn't here!

The room held 10 people arranged neatly into 5 bunkbeds, crammed together with only a locker to separate each of them. Occupying my room were 4 Germans, 4 Japanese guys and one Swiss bloke. It became clear very quickly that conversation was going to have to be sought elsewhere, but it was getting late so I set up my bed and got some kip.

I awoke at 6am to what sounded like a dawn raid. Explosions were happening all around me and I could hear loud German voices shouting things like "SCHNELL SCHNELL". I sat upright in a blind panic wondering what the hell was going on. Just then another explosion landed right beside me, and at that point I realised that I'd been woken by the sound of Germans and Japanese ungracefully exiting the upper bunks and swan diving heavily onto the floor below. It was early, I was tired, and I wasn't happy!

The room quickly emptied and I began to wonder whether I was going to be able to endure another 10 mornings of rude awakenings like this. I needed a plan, quickly!..............

I decided on three escape tunnels that I would name "George", "Dubya" and "Bush". I'd stolen a fork from the canteen and felt sure that with some hard work one of the tunnels would see me to through to the outside, where I'd steal a motorbike, jump the fence and head for the border. I'd use the slats from the bunkbeds to shaw up the sides of the tunnel and fashion some breathing apparatus out of an "I Love New York" umbrella that I'd found outside one of the latrines. It was an ingenious plan and one that I felt sure would work. I asked the swiss guy if he'd like to help, but he told me he'd rather stay out of things.

The plan failed when I remembered my room was on the second floor.

Anyway, thankfully the Germans and the Japanese moved on after a couple of days and after a while I'd forgiven them for waking me up so early anyway. I soon realised that with everything that there is to do in New York, you need and early start to see all the things that you want to see.

I've been spending my days here wandering around and taking it all in.

Central Park is incredible and I've walked the length and breadth of it twice. My first trip round there was on my first Saturday morning, and I was stunned by how many people were out running. What seemed like hundreds of thousands of them. Fat, thin, old and young, just running. Some were pushing kids in push chairs, others were dragging dogs. It was quite a sight.

I made my way to the lake to find yet more runners, all of them running anti-clockwise around the edge of it. I noticed a sign that exlpained walking and running around the lake should ONLY be done anti-clockwise............so I decided that I'd go clockwise........just for a laugh.

There's more than likely a very sensible health and safety regulation that states why the runners and walkers should all head in the same direction, but I'd like to think that there's also an aspect of dignity preservation involved as well. If everybody's running in the same direction then they only have to see each others backs, rather than their faces. But their faces are what you should really get a look at! Looks of agony and discomfort as well as seriousness and determination were everywhere. Some people were just pretending to run (i.e. the Peter Kay Dad run) whilst others were sprinting........and then every now and then a very good looking lady would run by..............so screw the rules, if you go to Central Park on a Saturday morning, walk clockwise around the lake!

On New Years Eve I braved the crowds and got myself as close to Times Square as possible, which was actually pretty close. I stood right on the corner of 40th and Broadway from where I could see the Ball. I was penned in along with a million other spectators and crushed against a fence for three hours in less than warm weather, but I figured I might only ever be in New York City on New Years Eve once in my life, so I put up with it.

Crushed up alongside me was a group of spanish teenagers, frolicking on the joys of cheap vodka smuggled into our cattle pen in a Sprite bottle. With three hours to go until the ball dropped they laughed, danced, trod on my foot and sprayed Silly String in my face........but I kept my composure throughout. I knew all to well that that the combination of alcohol, cold weather and a three hour wait with nowhere to go to the toilet would come back to bite them, and within an hour I was proved right.

By 10 O'Clock several of them were suffering as their back teeth began to float and they suddenly realised that they were in trouble. One girl looked like she was about to start crying. She pleaded with a crowd of New York's finest to let her jump the fence and search for a toilet, but they were having none of it. Somehow she managed to hold on until the ball dropped at midnight (at least I think she did) and then she jumped the fence and ran, followed by her friends, to the nearest alleyway she could find.........I laughed and bought myself a Pretzel

I've met up with an old NTU friend Jen, AKA American Jen, who's been kind enough to show me around and take me shopping, eating and drinking in her home town. Thanks Jen! I've seen the Flat Iron building, the Chrysler building, took a boat trip to see the Statue of Liberty, visited Madame Tussauds, walked over the Brooklyn Bridge (and back), been to the Natural History Museum, Ground Zero, Roosevelt Island (there's nothing there, so don't bother), walked around the Village, saw people Ice Skating at the Rockefeller Centre, ridden the subway up and down a hundred times AND, made a piligrimage to a small town called Montgomery in upsate New York to visit the home of the legendary Orange County Choppers (OCC for short).

My mates who've ever spent a "difficult" Sunday with me in front of the TV at my house will know exactly what I'm on about. The rest of you might not have a clue, so I'll explain;

There's a show on Sky TV called "American Chopper", all about a father and son family business who build Chopper motorcycles. The bikes they build are incredible, and the show is hilarious to watch. It's provided me with countless hours of recovery entertainment on a Sunday, so there was no way that I wasn't going to make my way out to see their shop whilst I was so close by.

So on Saturday the 6th, I caught a train from Grand Central to a town called Beacon and then took a cab to the OCC store and showroom. I spent over an hour looking at all the bikes that I'd watched being built on TV and took plenty of pictures as well. Then I loaded myself up with souvenir T-shirts and headed back to the train station to make my way back to NYC.

And now it's Monday morning, and in a few hours I'll be boarding a plane at JFK to make my way back to the UK. I'll be spending a couple of days with my folks before heading back to Nottingham on Friday the 12th............I'll be back behind my desk on the 15th...........

Expect one last posting on the blog to round things up on Friday when I get back to Nottingham.

M

Cousins in Carolina for Christmas.

Edenton - 36° 3'27.85"N 76°36'28.97"W

North Carolina technically, but I was going for the illiteration effect with the 3 C's thing.

I caught a train from Washington D.C on Friday the 22nd and spent 4 hours on there until I arrived in Rocky Mount North Carolina. From there, my Dad's cousin Paul picked me up and drove me back to the family home in a place called Edenton, where I got to meet the family that I've only ever met once before, and that was 17 years ago.

There was Paul's wife Pam and the girls Courtenay and Abby, as well as Courtenay's boyfriend Paul and their very small dog Bailey. Paul's stepmother Barbara was also there for the first night and we all headed out to dinner. I ironed the only respectable pair of trousers and shirt that I'd brought with me for the whole trip and enjoyed probably the best meal that I've had in over 2 months.

I was kept busy for the next few days meeting all of the family's friends, going out to parties, eating more good food, drinking lots of other peoples alcohol and generally having a good time. Paul even arranged for a genuine London Black Cab to come and pick us up from the house and drive us to one of their friends parties! It smelt a bit better than the Black Cabs that I've been in in London though.

Plenty of time was also spent listening to Abby attempt to perfect and refine a British accent by saying the words "water bottle", minus the pronunciation of the T's, over and over........and over...........until simple reptition wasn't enough, and instead the words "water bottle" were included in every conceivable sentence. Abby, aged 16, (not 5 and half) insists that she's got the British accent thing down. I'm not so sure Abby!!!!

Christmas day was awesome, and I lucked out on gifts, which kind of left the half arsed effort that I'd made whilst shopping in Philadelphia look a bit measly. I'm not sure quite how pleased Abby was with the T-shirt that I'd had printed for her that read "My english cousin bought me this T-shirt.......I'm THAT lucky!" I was kind of at a loss for ideas at the time. One of my stocking fillers in particular was quite appropriate, as far as Abby was concerned at least. It was a water bottle.

The evening of Christmas day ended rather strangely with Paul discovering that I liked to play the guitar and dabble with the odd bit of song writing here and there. I knew that Paul played, not only that but he's bloody good at it as well, owns numerous expensive and incredible sounding guitars and also enjoys playing the mandolin. After an hour or so of playing around on the guitars and joking about recording something, Paul nips out of the room and comes back to tell me that we were going to a recording studio first thing in the morning. I wasn't sure what to say really. It looked like boxing day was going to be a little bit different this year.

So the morning of the 26th was spent in a recording studio with a technician named Ted, with whom the two Paul's and I recorded three of my songs. If you get me drunk for free I'll play them to you......maybe.

Later that day my great Aunty Wynne and her husband Bill came over, more food was eaten and more drink was drunk. Bill managed to mistake the pudding sauce for gravy and doused his mashed potatoes in the stuff. He assures us all that it was a delightful combination and one that everybody should try! Abby said something about a water bottle again, before Courtenay, Paul and Bailey started out on their 15 hour drive back to their home in Michigan.

And then on the 27th it was all over and time for me to catch a train to New York. I was gutted all over again. I'd just got over feeling depressed about leaving New Orleans and now after having such an awesome time with everybody in North Carolina I felt depressed about having to move on yet again!

Pam drove me to the train station and on I hopped bound for New York. 9 hours later, I arrived.

WATER BOTTLE!

M

Washington D.C

Washington D.C - 38°53'40.42"N 77° 0'34.46"W

It's very neat and tidy. I guess George likes his home to look good, so he probably bungs a few dollars out there to make sure that he's not embarrassed when Tony and Cheri come to stay.

When I arrived on the train I headed to the hostel to dump my bags. It was mid afternoon, so I killed some time on the computer and replied to some E-mails before I decided to take a wander into town to have a look around.

I found a bar, (no surprise there then Wallace), had a drink, decided it was a crap bar, so without letting on to the barman that I though his bar was crap, diplomatically asked where else he might suggest that I go for a drink.......somewhere with people in it perhaps?

"Georgetown" was the reply, so I grabbed a cab and headed there.

Very nice it was too! I found a fair spot to park myself at a bar and people watched as hoards of suit clad men and women filed through the door after a hards days work running the world from the hill. And they could drink! This was only a Wednesday night, but I guess the stress relief that comes from blasting yourself backwards on shots of who knows what does something for them before they get up for another days work in the morning! I met some locals, drank a few (drinks, not locals) and then headed back to bed.

The next day I went on a mission to see some of the sights, all on foot. I walked to the Washington Monument, the WW2 memorial, up the reflection pool to the Lincoln Memorial, across to the Viet Nam wall, down to the Roosevelt Memorial to get some pictures of FDR, round to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial and back to the Elipse to take some pictures of the White House.

That was enough walking for one day, so I headed back to the hostel to drop off my bag and think about heading downtown for a more leisurely look around.

I must have sat down in the TV room for too long, because I woke up two hours later to find an Irish guy called Ian that I'd met in the hostel in Philadelhia, laughing at me. I promptly suggested that we find a place to have a beer and get something to eat........so we did.

So that was another night spent in a bar, before I went to bed to get a good night's sleep before my train ride the next day to North Carolina to find my cousins in time for Christmas!!

It's a shame that I hadn't planned to spend a bit more time in D.C, but I'll try and come back some day.

M

Philadelphia - Cheesesteak and Custard!

Philadelphia - 39°57'8.00"N 75° 9'51.00"W

I flew into Philadelphia from New Orleans. I arrived early evening, picked up my bags and made my way out to the taxi rank to catch a cab to the home of the family that I would be staying with for a couple of days.

There were loads of cabs waiting, so I jumped into the one at the front of the queue and told the driver the address that I wanted to go to.........

Silence.......

I repeated myself, and then the driver turned around and in his own language murmered a whole bunch of words that I didn't understand before grabbing the piece of paper with the address on from my hands. He begins shouting wildly into his hands free kit at the guy on the other end of the phone back in the cab office. A frantic and unintelligible exchange between driver and office ensues until I offer "it's o.k mate, if you don't know where you're going, I'll jump in another cab and see if they can get me there"........

Brmmmmmm (that's the sound of the cab driving off with me still in it)

"WOAH!......pal.........what are you doing?.......I'm not about to pay for you to drive around Philadelphia in the wrong direction not knowing where you're going!".........

Cab stops, and the driver turns and asks me "Where this address?"

"How the hell do I know, I don't live here and you're the taxi driver sunshine (I was getting angry)"

Brrmmmmmm

"WOAH!!!! The meter's been running now for 10 minutes nearly and we've not even left the taxi rank!, I am NOT going to pay you a penny until you work out where we're going, or I"m going to jump in another cab!"

It was then that I spotted the Sat Nav system on his dashboard - "Why don't you put the address in that thing and it'll tell us how to get there" I suggested.

"Not work, NOT WORK!!" replies the driver.

"Not work, or you not know HOW to work?" I ask.

"............I not know how!" he replies.

So I climb into the front of the cab and proceed to program the Sat Nav for him, with the address of where I need to go, all the time slapping his hand away from the control panel every time he thought he knew how to use it. On three occasions he managed to touch a button that he shouldn't and reset the entire thing.........I was close to throwing him out the door and stealing his taxi!

So, in the end, with the Sat Nav programmed and the dirver now thanking me for teaching him how to use the thing, we made our way out to the family that I would be staying with. - Did I tip the guy?........you must be joking!

Cathi, Dan and their two daughters Leanna and Coryn were fantastic hosts. The next day, Cathi and Leanna took me out for a walk around Fairmount Park, and after a good leg stretch and some fresh air, Cathi casually suggested that we all go and get some Custard to eat.

I wasn't entirely sure how to reply. Sure, I like custard, but I failed to see how you could get a takeaway version of it. I started getting visions of Americans sat around with huge cups, full of warm yellow custard, pouring it down their necks and making comments like "Damn, I love custard" or "there's nothing like a cup of custard after a hard days work"..........

But, I agreed to go and get custard, dubious about what exactly I was going to get out of the whole experience.

Ice Cream..........that's what Custard is apparently. It's not yellow OR warm. I was relieved and explained to Cathi how I'd been confused about what exactly I might have been letting myself in for. She'd never heard of the English interpretation of custard. As soon as I get back to the UK, I"m going to send them a jumbo sized packet of Birds finest!

We ate Chinese downtown that night and went to listen to Leanna play the Irish fiddle in a bar. It was a good night out. When we got back to the house, the family invited me to take part in their Hanukkah celebrations and Dan asked me to light one of the candles on the Menorah whilst they sang a blessing. Cathi then gave me a T-shirt as a Hanukkah gift. I wasn't sure what to say, I felt quite priviledged to have been allowed to take part in their celebrations.

The next day I said my goodbyes and caught a train downtown with all my baggage to spend a day at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn for short). I had a full days worth of work related stuff to do and I met loads of great people who work in the Centre for Community Partnerships there.

Later on, I checked into a youth hostel and made my way out for a beer with a couple of people who I'd met at Penn earlier in the day. Then, back to the hostel, good nights kip and up the next day to see some sights and do some shopping.......in the vain hope that I might find something for my cousins who were going to be putting me up for Christmas.

I went to Liberty Hall, saw where George Washington and all his buddies drafted and signed the declaration of independence, and then met up with Leanna for some lunch. We went to Jimi's, a famous and much loved haunt amongst Phildelphians who like a good Philly Cheesesteak! Mine was awesome!

I managed to get a couple of gifts together for my cousins, before I went back to the hostel, ate pizza, drank beer and then went to bed to get a good night's kip before my trip to Washington D.C the next day.

In the morning I jumped on a train and headed south to the Capital!

N'awlins

N'awlins - 29°57'16.00"N 90° 4'30.00"W

That's how you pronounce New Orleans if you live there. The southern accent is crazy over here, but it's weirdly addictive to listen to. I could have got some of the people I met to read the phone book and not be bored by it.

The last post was from San Francisco at the end of my drive up the west coast. Just after I finished posting on here (from there) I nipped out to buy something to eat. It was only then, whilst walking in the dark and the rain, that I realised exactly what a horrifically crap and unsafe part of town the youth hostel was in. I witnessed 3 crack coccaine (I'll explain later Grandma) deals take place right in front of me, one of which I was told to stop for whilst the deal took place before I was permitted to walk past. I ran back to the hostel and did my laundry!!

Anyway, so it was only a brief stop in San Francisco and first thing Sunday morning I was back at the airport to catch a flight to New Orleans. It was a long day travelling and I had to fly via Charlotte in North Carolina. What made the day even more stressful was that I really didn't have much of an idea where I was going once I got to New Orleans. The people that I met with at the university of Utah had suggested a volunteer project for me to hook up with and I'd called a lady called Sarah to see if it was o.k for me to show up. Sarah had given me an address and told me to make my way there when I arrived.........I could have been going anywhere.

From New Orleans airport I jumped in a cab and headed for the address that I'd been given. It was dark so I had no idea what the city around me looked like, but the houses gradually got larger and larger until I was convinced that I was in the wrong place. Eventually the cab driver pulled up outside a huge house and told me that this was where I got out. It didn't look like a volunteer shelter, it just looked like somebody's oversized home, but the lights were on and I could see people moving around inside. So I walked up onto the porch, past a bank of Louisiana style rocking chairs, and rang the bell.

Within minutes I'd been shown to my bunkbed, introduced to about 25 people, had a sandwich made for me for the next day and given a glass of wine........red.........NON ALCOHOLIC!

Something was amiss here and I couldn't quite put my finger on it, until it was explained to me that the project that I was working with was run through the Presbyterian church that was next door, and that the people I was now living with for the next week were on church mission trips from other parts of the country. In fact there were two groups, one from Delaware with whom I was now chatting, and another from Myrtle Beach South Carolina who were nowhere to be seen..........

So I went to bed, safe in the knowledge that I probably wasn't going to be robbed whilst I slept.

In the morning I was told to be on the porch and ready to go at 8am, so I made my way through the house towards the front door. I'd nearly got there, when, from somewhere to my right a loud voice began hollering "NEW PERSON, NEW PERSON, HELLO, UHM NEW PERSON". Assuming this was meant for me I turned around to find a good looking lady with a big smile on her face waving her finger at me wildly - "NEW PERSON, WHO ARE YOU NEW PERSON?"

"I'm Matt"
"and where are you from Matt"
"England, from a city called Nottingham"
"Yes, yes you are"
"and you are?........"
"Julie, from Myrlte Beach, and you Matt are going to be spending the week with us!"

Unknown to me at this time, Julie had just hooked me into the most amazing group of people that I'm likely to meet during this entire trip, and a group that took me under their wing and me me feel like family in no time at all. The Delaware crew, despite their kind and elderly sandwich making efforts, were now off limits as far as the Myrtle Beach gang were concerned.

Their leader was a "bloke" called Howard, an ex fighter pilot, local politician and anti British extremist (just kidding Howard).

Accompanying Howard in the Myrtle Beach gang were:

Jeff - AKA Mule, the banadana wearing smoker of the tribe who was dining out on a serious casino win from a Saturday night in New Orleans.
Wanita - That's not her real name but she's aked that her identity be protected because she's an attorney and will soon be a judge. We know she's going to be a judge becase a voodoo man that read her palm on Bourbon Street told her so.........despite being an occasional loser.
Natasha - New Orleans volunteer project veteran embarking on her 4th trip. You wouldn't have guessed it though by the state of her finger nails..........
Julie - A Myrtle Beach realtor that liked to talk smack (that's kind of gossip and bullsh*t all thrown into one......I think, and not Heroin). Julie doesn't eat food that still has a face, like shrimp or crawfish.
Karyn - Health, fitness and soccer enthusiast who likes to run before dinner so that she can take an extra helping of Peach Cobbler. She also attempted to teach me how to eat Crawfish.......but that didn't stop me piching the wrong bit and showering people with crawfish brain!
Richard - Beach bum that owns his own watersports company at Myrtle Beach. He's told me to let all my friends know that you can visit him and get as many free parasail rides as you want all day long (just kidding).
Anne - Another attorney, but she don't believe in no crazy voodoo talk, so we don't know if she gonna be a judge!
Jonathon - I can't be sure, but I've a feeling that he's a retired cab driver from New York.
Lynn - Restauranteur, tequila drinker before 5pm and anti Delaware enthusiast.
Allison - Sunday School teacher, web geek and practising comedienne who made me laugh far too much at inappropriate comments and moments!

Living and working with these people for a week was incredible once I got used to saying Grace before lunch and dinner. Every single one of them was kind to me and made me feel so welcome that I was sad to say goodbye by the time the end of the week came.

The work we were doing in New Orleans consisted of going into flood damaged homes, of which there are still thousands, and gutting them to make them ready for rennovation and hopefully habitation again. We swung hammers and crow bars, knocked down sheet rock, dry wall and plaster, ripped up floors and took down doors, carried couches, ovens and fridges and piled it all up on the street outside.

It was heartbreaking to see some homes with all the possessions still in there 16 months after Katrina came and went. I saw houses that had been picked up, spun through 180 degrees and parked on the side of another house. Cars that were turned over, boats piled on top of each other and miles and miles of FEMA (Federal Emergency Medical Association) trailors on the front lawns of all these flood damaged homes in which people are still living.

It's only through the efforts of groups like the one I was working with that any real rate of progress is being made, and even then only the surface is being scratched. Given the opportunity I'd gladly go back and volunteer there again like I know so many people like the Myrtle Beach gang who live over here are doing.

The week in New Orleans was the most amazing time I've spent out here yet and I don't say that lightly considering all the fantastic things I've done and the people that I've met along the way since I arrived in the USA. I learnt a lot, saw and did some awesome things and made some great friends.

Final lesson learnt? - I'd rather be from Myrtle Beach than Delaware.

On Saturday I flew to Philadelphia.

M

I like driving in my car.....

.......except it's wasn't technically my car. I hired it from Hertz, but it felt like it was mine, until I had to give it back to a man wearing dungarees at San Francisco International Airport.

I picked it up on Thursday morning from L.A airport, and from there I began my driving adventure up the west coast all the way to San Francisco where I am now.

After saying goodbye to my cousins Julie and Liz I drove out to Venice Beach. It was kind of quiet with it being December, but the weather's still warm here. The beach is dotted with homeless guys and 'artists' that try to sell you 'art' that they've assembled out of lumps of driftwood or budweiser bottle tops. I can imagine that during the summer it's absolutely heaving and must be a hell of a place to spend some time, but after a walk up and down I'd satisfied my curiosity and jumped back in the car to head for Santa Maria.

I drove the Pacific Coast Highway 1 all the way, which gives you a great view of the sea and the hills. It was pretty weird driving through Malibu, with the window down, sun shining and Band Aid on the radio........."do they know it's Christmas time"..........it didn't feel like it to me!

Anyway, the drive was great, I stopped in Santa Barbara for a bite to eat and then headed on to Santa Maria to my hotel. There's nothing much to do in Santa Maria so I updated the blog with news from Vegas and L.A, had a drink (obviously) and then went to bed.

On Friday I got up early, and hit the road to Monterey.

I thought I'd seen pretty much the best countryside and views that the USA has to offer when I got the train through the Rockys from Denver to Salt Lake City, but I was way off!

The coast line from Santa Maria to Monterey is like nothing I've ever seen before. The road I drove literally hangs from the side of the cliffs and hills that drop right into the water. It's a stupidly windy road and I was glad that I was driving on the right side rather than the left for a lot of it! I had to stop every 20 minutes or so to get photos of the beaches, cliffs and surf.

The road took me through Big Sur and then the rain started. By the time I got to Monterey it was chucking it down, so I found my hotel and headed off to the Aquarium to look at sharks, jellyfish and otters. Had it not been raining I'd have got a better look at the town, but I headed back to the hotel, freshened up and popped down the Brittania Arms for a bottle of water or two.

And then today I drove the last stretch up here to San Francisco.

It rained all the way which made it less enjoyable of a drive, not only that but and I kept passing dead skunks! I'd not smelt a skunk before today, but I can tell you that they smell remarkably similar to something that I once encountered wafting under the ktichen door of a student hall of residence.

I made it through the rain and all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge, where I parked up and took photos of the bridge and Alcatraz island. Then it was off to the youth hostel to dump my bags, off to the airport to dump the car, back into town to buy some work boots for New Orleans and then back here to the youth hostel........it's still raining!

So, tomorrow I've got an early start to catch a flight to New Orleans where I'll be spending 5 days volunteering on a rebuild project in the 9th Ward. I'll be clearing homes so that they can be renovated and made habitable again after the damage that hurricane Katrina did. I'm not sure how it's going to go or what exactly I'm going to be faced with when I get there, but i'm hoping to do my bit to help whilst I've got the chance.

M

ps - I'll do my best to get a whole new bunch of photos on the album soon, but time's been against me recently. As soon as I get the chance I'll let you know.

Los Angeles - the return of Niagara Falls

Los Angeles - 34° 3'8.00"N 118°14'34.00"W

I've not been well, and it's Wendy's fault! She's the woman with pigtails that makes square hamburgers over here..........sqaure hamburgers that make you throw up for two days..........at $5.87 (including tax) that's an absolute bargain.............not!

I got into Los Angeles on Sunday evening, on a plane that should have said "Heinz 57 varieties" on the side. It was only 3 seats wide (plus aisle) and swung from side to side like a drunk in a hammock every time the captain breathed near the flight controls! It almost seemed pointless that I was swabbed and hoovered for C4 plastic explosives at security in Vegas. An overly sharp and misplaced elbow could just have easily casued the thing to de-pressurise!

Anyway, we landed and I got a shuttle bus to my cousin Julie's house near downtown L.A and on the doorstep of the USC campus. We went out for a a drink, met up with her friend Peter and got a bite to eat. Peter told me he'd just seen Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers outside the bar we were in. I told Peter to stop winding me up but he looked at me like I was being a typical British tourist. I was forgetting that L.A really is the land of the rich and the famous and seeing international celebrities walking the streets is part and parcel of being in town.

The next day I took some time out to do some laundry, buy some Christmas cards (it's in the post, hope you like it) and get something to eat at Wendy's. By the evening I was going nowhere fast, other than the bathroom every 15 minutes or so...........I HATE YOU WENDY!!

So after a restless night with not much sleep I spent the next day never too far from the bathroom, but I did feel well enough at one point to take a walk out to the L.A Auto Show that was being hosted at the convention centre just down the road. I spent a cautious hour or so watching rich women with blonde hair and plastic heads walking round spending their daddy and husband's money on the latest sports cars that were on show. I on the other hand took some photos, pretended that I really knew what I was looking at under the bonnet of the BMW M6.........and then ran home because I felt ill again.

In the evening I met up with an old pal from NTU (Elliot Norman to those of you that know him) and we went to watch the L.A Clippers (basketball team) play the Miami Heat. Julie had very kindly managed to get us tickets to see the game and it was awesome. The Clippers won! I'd hoped to go out for a beer with Elliot, but by the end of the game I was doubled over and praying for unconsciousness, so we got a cab back and I resumed my duties in the bathtroom.

On Wednesday I had meetings with the community engagement staff at USC that went really well........which I should stop mentioning because it'll only serve as online evidence when my boss asks to hear about what I've learnt out here!

I was feeling much better by this point, so in the evening Julie took me out for a tour of
Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive and Sunset and Hollywood Boulevard. We went to see Man's Chinese Theatre, but we couldn't get close to it because Leonardo Di Caprio was mincing the red carpet for the premier of his latest film. So we got a bite to eat and then headed off to a bar to watch one of Julie's friends who's in a band. It was a good night out and illness free! Result!

And now it's Thursday, and I'm sat at a computer in the Santa Maria Inn, in Santa Maria California.

I picked up a car this morning from L.A.X (the airport in L.A) and started my 3 day road trip up the coast to San Francisco.........but I'll save the details of the full trip for the next posting though. I'm getting my apetite back and I need something to eat.

Be in touch again soon.

M

Viva Las Vegas

Las Vegas (Circus Circus Hotel) - 36° 8'13.04"N 115° 9'47.88"W

I flew into Vegas last Thursday evening and made my way from the airport to my hotel (Circus Circus). On the way to the hotel I drove passed huge and fancy looking buildings like the Luxor, the Wynn, Caesars Palace, the Belaggio........I was excited to see what my hotel was going to look like!

It was crap.

It looked like something that Blackpool would be embarrassed by. Built way back at the start of the Vegas boom and not changed much since! But I got it cheap and I was only here for a few days so I got on with it.

Quick shower and a change of clothes and I headed off to the New York New York to find my mate Kieran.

The hotels and casinos are just as impressive on the inside as they are on the outside. Not only that.........but if you gamble...........you drink for free!

I should point out here that I didn't blow the scholarship money with the high rollers at the poker table! I took a seat at the 5 Cents slot machine, put a dollar in, caught the eye of the dinks waitress and ordered a beer for free! Makes perfect economical sense to me! Obviously, tips rule supreme in Vegas, more so than the rest of the country where they're still the practiced norm. This was something of a tough one for Kieran to get to grips with though, especially coming from Huddersfield, and on more than one occasion when politely reminded by a waitress or bar man that they operate on tips, I'm pretty sure that I heard Kieran mutter something about what "not to do with broken glass".

Later that evening Kieran and I met up with a young lady called Brittaney, who was the daughter of Anna and Rod, the host family that I had just stayed with in Salt Lake city. She and her friends, all students at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, very kindly showed us around.

The next day, we headed to the Stratosphere. It's a big tower at the northern end of the strip and from the top you can see all of vegas. There's also theme park rides at the top.

Two of the rides dangle you out over the edge of the tower so that you're looking I don't know how many hundred feet straight down at the street below! We were asked if we wanted to ride them..........Kieran gave the guy another tip.

Instead, we chose to have a go on the third ride, which fires you straight up in the air to the highest point of the tower, before you free fall back down again. Bearing in mind that you're already a long way up and you can't see anything but the streets of Las Vegas hundreds of feet below you, I don't mind admitting that I thought I was going to die!

On Saturday we had an early start, got picked up by a minibus from our hotels and driven to the airfield to board a helicopter. The helicopter flew us out across the desert to the Hoover Dam, over the mountains and down into the Grand Canyon. The canyon is unbelievable as I'm sure you can imagine, especially from the inside of a helicopter.

Grand Canyon - 36° 9'31.68"N 112°16'14.59"W

We spent the rest of the day walking round Vegas again, before meeting up with Brittaney and co later on for another night out.

All in all, Vegas is awesome. Very loud, large, tacky, brash and over the top.........but it is in America after all, and if you can be prepared to have a good time without letting that kind of thing bother you then it's definitely the place to go!

On Sunday I caught a flight to Los Angeles.

M

The mountain and the Mormons

Salt Lake City - 40°45'39.00"N 111°53'25.00"W

I've been here since last Thursday night. I spent the first few days staying at a Holiday Inn, and then I checked out yesterday, (Tuesday) spent the day at the University of Utah and met up with the latest host family that have been kind enough to put me up whilst I'm over here.

I'm now at the University of Utah using one of their computers whilst I wait to go to dinner with the staff who have been showing me around the university the past couple of days. Both the university and the community engagement centre that I've been visiting are awesome. The university itself actually hosted part of the Winter Olympics in 2002, with the opening ceremony taking place in the university football stadium (it's that big) and the student accommodation being used as the Olympic Village! (something to aim for James and Michael if you're reading this!)

A couple of you have commented on the absence of any mention of social/drinking activity taking place in the previous post that I put on here..........so I've sepnt the last few days out of my mind to make amends. - just kidding...........it was only one day........

Friday night I went to a sports bar and watched the local Utah "Jazz" basketball team play the L.A Lakers (they're a basketball team as well........ from L.A). Drunk American sports fans are hilarious, especially when the game's as close as this one that I watched. The Jazz won by just a couple of points and the locals went crazy shouting stuff like "yeeeeehaaaa", "USA, USA" and "OH YEH BROTHER, YOU GOTTA LOVE THE JAZZ"!...........I kept quiet and tried not to spill my beer whilst people I didn't know slapped me on the back.

On Saturday I left the hotel and started walking towards the city. Got to the City, looked at the Mormon Temple, took some photos and then started walking again.

I wasn't sure where I was going but I kept walking and walking until I left the Downtown area on the other side...........then I carried on walking some more. I was like a British version of Forest Gump.

I ended up on top of a mountain! , kind of. It might have been more of a big hill but for a man of my physical and athletic prowess, it was a mountain.

The mountain/hill was called Ensigns Peak/Everest, and it was the place from which Brigham Young (Mormon geezer) and his pals surveyed the Salt Lake valley and began to plan the layout of the city. "Fascinating stuff Wallace" I hear some of you cry, but it was fairly surprising to me considering that I hadn't even intended on climbing up there when I left the hotel.

I took a whole load of photos of the city, the mountains and the valley, before I stumbled on the sign in the picture at the top of this post. With Steve Irwin being dead and gone, I'm not really up on what to do if confronted with/bitten by a venomous snake..........so I got scared, started to need the toilet and climbed back down.

You can see how far I walked if you put the following GPS numbers into Google Earth.

My Hotel - 40°44'50.50"N 111°53'29.15"W

Ensigns Peak - N 40°47.663' W111°53.442'

In the evening I headed into town for a drink. In Salt Lake City, a lot of bars make you pay a temporary membership fee of $4 before you're even allowed to the bar. I thought about skipping it, but 'needs must' as they say.

I had a few drinks, played some pool with a few of the locals and watched an 80's tribute band dressed in wigs and drainpipes murder some classics. The locals loved it though, and for the encore a gang of large women started throwing themselves up onto the stage. They must have been Mormon, because in the absence of a winch or a crane only God could have got them up there!

I'll wrap this post up now though. I'm off to dinner in a bit before I head back to Anna and Rod's place (my host family) to back my bag, get a good nights sleep and then catch a flight to Vegas tomorrow.

In Vegas I'll be meeting up with my mate Kieran ('Kizza' to those of you that know him), and I'm sure we'll do our best to make sure that there's something to write about on here by the time we've finished! I"m hoping it'll be a little bit warmer there as well. It's been snowing here in SLC and the wind chill takes it down to about -10! Not only that but I've slipped over twice in public places. On both occasions I did my best to make it look like I meant to do it............ but a 4 year old girl still pointed and laughed at me.

M

p.s - PHOTOS! - there's a new link on the right hand side of the blog under the 'links' section. Click on it and you'll be taken to an online album of just some of the photos that I've uploaded. Hope you like them.

Ski Skool

Salt Lake City - 40°45'39.00"N 111°53'25.00"W

I've arrived in Salt Lake City after four days of learning to ski in Breckenridge.

I signed myself up for lessons when I arrived last Saturday, and on Sunday morning I was given skis, boots, poles, a helmet and introduced to my fellow school mates and our instructor Bill........... I hid the helmet behind a bush and picked it up later - I looked like an idiot.

Learning to ski with American people learning to ski can be difficult. At least it was in my group;

Barbara - 4 ft 5" tall, ginger perm tucked under helmet with a voice that made me want to throw myself down the mountain regardelss of being able to ski or not. She was toppped off with a bright pink shell/ski/jump suit that would have made Eddy the Eagle cringe.

Sebastien - aged 16, fell over 8 times in the first 5 minutes of wearing skis, threw the most amazing tantrum I've ever seen, burst into tears, punched his sister, and stormed off. We didn't see Sebastien again.

Larry - 50 something, liked to ski with his tongue up his left nostril and his arms waiving around so that anybody who had 2 eyes at the top of the mountain, only had one by the time they got to the bottom. In fact, Larry is the first American to make me lose my temper since I've been here.

Whilst boarding the ski lift he poked me in the eye with one of his ski poles. I accepted his apology but was less forgiving at the top of the lift when Larry fell over, punched me in the jaw in a blind panic of waving arms and finally dragged me to the floor with him. They had to stop the lift whilst a group of hysterical lift operators picked Larry and me up off the floor and moved us out of harms way. Lucky for Larry I'd dropped both my ski poles so I couldn't maim him with them.

Anyway, people came and went from the group over the course of the days, but by the end of my last day my instructor was happy enough to take me and two others out onto a blue/black run. I've still got all my limbs, a working spleen and my dignity. I like skiing so I'll be doing it again whenever I get the chance.

On Wednesday evening I got a bus from Breckenridge back to Frisco where I had to wait for the Greyhound to take me back to Denver.

I stood in a waiting room with three Mexicans and a drunk, hoping the bus would arrive soon! I rang the Greyhound line to check that there was definitely space on the bus because you can't buy tickets at Frisco and you have to pay the driver when you board. It wasn't good news. This was the last bus of the night and space was running low. The agent on the other end of the phone suggested that my best option was to make sure that I was at the front of the queue when the bus arrived to make sure that I got a seat! There wasn't a queue though. We were all just sat in the warmth of the waiting room whilst it was minus who knows what outside.

So, 15 minutes before the bus was due to arrive I stepped out into the cold and made camp at the curb where the bus would be pulling up. I was first in line and there was no way anybody could cut in front of me.........

The bus was over an hour late. I'd been stood in the cold for that long, too scared to go back in the waiting room in case one of the 3 Amigos or Oliver Reed's twin brother managed to get to the bus before me. Finally, when it did arrive, I managed to get a seat and made it back to Denver for the night.

In the morning I boarded a train to Salt Lake City. 15 hours on a train, through the Rocky Mountains that would have been agony if it weren't for the incredible scenary along the way.

The train winds its way up into the mountains from Denver, and meets up with the Colorado River at a place called Granby. It then follows the river through the mountains and canyons onto Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction before it parts ways at a place called Mack. From here the river runs South West out of the mountains and across the desert to the Grand Canyon. The train heads North West through the Ruby Canyon and onto Salt Lake City. The views of the Ruby Canyon as the sun went down were awesome.

I got into Salt Lake City last night at about 11.30pm. I managed to get a cab to a Motel, slept in a room that smelt like a foot and then got myself to the Holiday Inn where I'm staying now first thing this morning.

I'll be here over the weekend and Monday, before I meet up with my next host family on Tuesday as well as visiting the University of Utah for a couple of days.

I'll be back on here again soon, but don't be shy to get in touch in the mean time. I'm trying to keep on top of all my E-mails.

p.s - Robin and Roosevelt Virtual Scholar update - so far he's travelled 1721.6 miles from Chicago to a Geocacher's event in Washington on the West Coast (N 47° 39.707 W 122° 07.106). He's been picked up there by somebody calling themselves "NBJPoppa" who will be dropping him off somewhere else soon. You can follow his progress using the link on the right of this page.

Line Dancing.......!?

Denver - 39°44'44.49"N 104°59'23.28"W
Breckenridge - 39°28'53.93"N 106° 2'16.13"W

The flight to Denver was uneventful - no embarrasing toilet moments or snoring passengers - but coming into land at Denver was quite impressive.

There was nothing but huge flat squares of dry looking farmland on both sides of us........., which probably meant that Denver was somewhere in front of the plane and the Captain wasn't going to attempt to reverse park.

Huge dust storms were kicking up massive funnels of dirt and as we got closer to the ground I could see hundreds of tumbleweeds racing across the ground. It looked something like when my Dad cracks a joke and nobody laughs. (I look forward to the next comment Dad).

The guy I was meeting with from the University of Denver picked me up from the airport and we went for a beer and met up with a colleague of his who would kindly put me up for the next two nights. The two days at the UoD were great and I'm still getting plenty of worky type stuff done.

Thursday night though, things took a turn for the worse. I checked into my hotel, got a bite to eat and then headed downtown in the evening to see what I could see.

There's a chance maybe that I sank a couple of beers in a bar called Coyote Ugly and watched a woman drink snakebite from a barmaids boot, but that might have just be the altitude making me hallucinate. Truth is though that the altitude in Denver is an issue. It took me a couple of hours worth of light headedness and headaches when I first arrived to get used to it - it's over a mile above sea level.

Anyway, leaving Coyote Ugly I noticed a queue, and a sign that said "Corona" on it. Enthused by the prospect that this might be some sort of Solar Sun fanatics event, I joined the back of the line......

Turns out it was a club, and only after I'd paid to get in did I hear the sound of Billy Ray Cyrus' "Achey, Breaky Heart". A man wearing a cowboy hat and a belt buckle the size of the World Wrestling Federation championship title brushed past me and I started to feel like this might not have been a good idea.

As I rounded the corner and looked for the bar I was pleased to see that the cowboy was in a minority and there were plenty of normal young Americans stood around having a drink - then, in a moment reminiscent of the final scene of Teen Wolf (the bit where all the school kids pull off a hugely choreographed dance scene), people took to the dancefloor on mass at the sound of their favourite tune and started.........line dancing.

I didn't know where to look and I couldn't even drink my beer with my jaw on the floor. What made it worse was that the song being played wasn't a Dolly Parton classic, but "Bye Bye Bye", by the one time boy band N-Sync!!!

In the toilets were signs that read "you know you're a red-neck....... if your mom makes a mean road kill stew" and ......."you find dog hair in your belly button" - nice.

I couldn't breath and I had to find somewhere to sit whilst I laughed out loud - altitude again I think! I was only sorry that some of my mates couldn't be there to see it with me.

Denver itself though is a really nice city and the view out to the mountains is amazing. The University of Denver sits on a bit of a hill and from the classrooms and libraries you can take in the view. I might have gone to a few more classes or library sessions if I'd been able to see the Rocky Mountains like that........maybe.

Friday night I went to see the University of Denver's Ice Hockey team, the "Pioneers", play the Michigan Tech "Huskies" at the university arena. The Pioneers won 1-0, and I enjoyed wathcing them kick seven shades of dulux out of each other for 60 minutes. Well worth the money. - a less enjoyable moment came when the puck left the ice at close to 80 miles an hour, sailed over the protective screen........and hit a woman sat 20 seats to my left in the face. Much like the line dancing situation, I didn't quite know where to look as her boyfriend started looking for her teeth and holding her nose in place at the same time.

So - now it's Saturday, and I'm at my hotel in Breckenridge in the mountains. I had to get a Greyhound bus up here though which I didn't enjoy - if only for the bus station in Denver that looked like the footage we all saw on the news of the inside of the Superdome in New Orleans just after Hurricane Katrina. Hundereds of people camped on top of each other waiting for buses overnight!

I've just been and spent a fortune on ski lessons which start tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to the next few days up here before heading back to Denver and on to Salt Lake City.

I'll be in touch again soon, provided I'm not in traction with a dislocated pancreas, four broken legs and no access to the internet.

M

The Robin and Roosevelt Virtual Scholar!

Stick with me on this one, and don't judge me before I'm through with explaining!.......

Before I came over here I spent a weekend with some relatives who are into "Geocaching". In a nut shell, it's treasure hunting with GPS (Global Positioning)! Now, to my fellow bar flies this might not sound like something that I'd usually take much interest in, and in fact, many of you might right now be preparing to have serious words with me when I get home, some might also be planning to hurt me............ BUT, truth be known it's a good laugh...........so there!

So, having enjoyed my first Geocaching experience I came up with an idea to help to raise the profile of the Nottingham Roosevelt Memorial Travelling Scholarship over here in the States.

I've set up the Robin and Roosevelt "Travel Bug", who's mission will be to act as a virtual scholar and travel the USA as far and wide as possible until the year 2046 - the 100th anniversary of the Nottingham Roosevelt Memorial Travelling Scholarship!

In the Goecaching world "Travel Bugs" are small identity tagged items who have the purpose of travelling from Geocache to Geocache. The finder of a Travel Bug takes it home, types in the identity tag number into the Geocaching website online, and is then presented with information about the purpose of the Travel Bug. The finder then deposits the Travel Bug in the next Geocache that they find and so the bug travels around.

Finders of the Robin and Roosevelt Travel Bug will be taken to its own web page, where they'll learn about the scholarship. I've also included on there web references to our visitnottingham.co.uk web pages. The hope is that they will learn a little bit about Nottingham.

You'll see on the right hand side of this page that I've included a link to the Robin and Roosevelt Travel Bug page which will let you see where the bug has travelled to. I've also included a link on there for you to learn a little bit more about Geocaching as well - so go and have a look!

I met up with a whole bunch of Geocache enthusiasts in downtown Chicago at the weekend, and one of them, Paul, kindly agreed to take the Robin and Roosevelt travel bug off me and start it on it's travels (Thanks Paul!) - turns out though that Paul took it to an event over here in Chicago, where somebody quite important in the world of Geocaching took a liking to it!

Jeremy Irish is President and Co-founder of "Groundspeak", the company that administers Geocaching.com. Geocaching is growing rapidly with over 330,000 caches worldwide so Jeremy's started something fairly big in setting this company up!

Anyway, he took the Robin and Roosevelt travel bug off Paul's hands when Paul explained to him what it's purpose was. Jeremy has taken it with him back to the Groundspeak headquarters where he will then send it on its way. We'll have to wait and see where it turns up next.

The photo above is of Paul (left) handing the Robin and Roosevelt Travel bug over to Jeremy Irish.

The travel bug itself is a small diecast metal Robin Hood figure, with a badge of the Nottingham City crest attached to it. You can't really see it in the picture though so I'll try and get somebody who finds it to send me a close up of it.

M

Chicago, Tanya and Peanut!

Chicago - 41°53'8.40"N 87°37'47.05"W

My train arrived at 11.00 central time (10th Nov) - I'd gained an hour from Buffalo - and I made my way in a cab from Central station staight to Michigan avenue for a meeting at 12.15 at Roosevelt University. I was knackered, cranky and didn't smell wonderful, but I didn't have much of a choice.

The meeting went well but I won't bore you with that. I made straight for a bar and killed the rest of the afternoon with a pint (or two) and a newspaper until I could meet up with the family who were putting me up for a couple of days.

I headed across downtown Chicago to Gary's office where he and his wife then took me off to a 'Rugby' party for the Chicago Lions. Fancy drinks reception do with cheese and wine on the something or other floor of a sky scaper overlooking Milennium Park. The view was amazing and I started to realise just how big Chicago is!

The next day I caught the El' Train to downtown Chicago and spent the whole day exploring. This city is huge! The buildings are enormous and there's people and cars everywhere. The El' train looks like it's about to fall apart as it rattles around over your head whilst you walk the streets below. You can hardly see the sky from the height of the buidlings around you and on every corner there's a crazy man with only one tooth, dancing on top of a milk crate and singing the blues! .......(maybe not every corner, but I've seen a couple!)

I finished the day off at another bar where I had the pleasure of meeting two locals......

Tanya and Peanut were suitably miserable and they each took it in turns to out do each other with their tales of woe! It was kind of like that scene in Jaws, where they compare scars and get hammered on Vodka! One point of the conversation in particular though springs to mind;

Tanya - Why the name Peanut anyway Peanut?
Peanut - I can't tell you my real name, so don't be asking me that.......asawannagaDAMNmofo
Tanya - What's your real name?
Wallace - (wonders whether Tanya might be deaf)
Peanut - I don't use my legal name
Tanya - oh.......oh I see........
Wallace - (suitably confused)
Tanya - Where you from Peanut? Where's your family at?
Peanut - I've not got no family........ just my pops but I"ve not spoken to him for a long time!
Tanya - Why's that?
Peanut - Things changed after I shot at him......
Wallace - (eyes watering whilst trying not to spit Budweiser everywhere.....a small amount escaped from my left nostril though)
Tanya - Damn! Peanut, that sounds like some heavy sh*t
Wallace - (you're not wrong Tanya) Barman, can I get my bill please?

The next day I left Gary and Leslie, thanked them for their hospitality and checked into a youth hostel in downtown Chicago - 41°52'33.29"N 87°37'35.52"W

I spent even more time just walking around taking pictures and taking it all in.
Tonight I'm heading to a British friend of a friend's house. It'll be nice to have a conversation with somebody who doesn't keep asking me to repeat myself because they don't understand my accent.

Chicago's a great city and I'd definitely like to come back here again some day to spend some more time here. I reckon I'd prefer it in the summer months though, it's pretty cold right now.......not as cold as my next port of call though..........

In the morning I'm on a flight to Denver.

You'll hear from me again when I get there.

M

Niagara Falls

Hi

On Thursday (9th) some new friends from the University at Buffalo took me over to Niagara Falls - thank you Dana, Josh and Erin (sorry if i've spelt that wrong......Erin...?).

The falls are huge, bigger than I'd expected - so big in fact that it actually rains where the mist is really heavy. We walked across the rainbow bridge into Canada and I spent my time taking plenty of photos. We grabbed some lunch, played the slot machines in a Casino and tried free chocolate samples in the Hershey store.

The day ended with a delayed 10 hour train journey to Chicago.

(I'll get a picture of the Falls on here when I can upload them to a computer somewhere)

M