"Charlie don't surf!"

Charlie didn't do much wine tasting either, but we did. In the Napa Valley to be exact. Francis Ford Coppola used the money he made with the Godfather films to buy a vineyard, now known as Rubicon. For $25 we had a little tour and history of the winery and got to taste five different types of wine. The Zinfandel was my favourite. It would go nice with a meal, especially if it's a roast of some kind. Bunny? (Sorry, couldn't resist.)



The large house on the estate also had a small museum devoted to film history and had props from some of Coppola's films. The surfboard above is of course from Apocalypse Now.




The desk you see is where Michael Corleone sat and conceived his misdeeds. There really is a town in Sicily called Corleone. B and I visited back in 1992.

When Two Tribes go to war...

These are a few things I picked up on the tour of America. Too bad I can't get the song Two Tribes by Frankie Goes to Hollywood to accompany this presentation.

The guides to surviving the fallout from a nuclear war comes from the shop called "Things" in Tucumcari, New Mexico.








This matchbook comes from a shop in Chelsea, Manhattan. What do you think? Does the artist go too far using the events of 9/11?

"That Bunny is dynamite!"

From what we hear, many of you have been horrified by the our use, or as some have stated, our abuse, of bunnies. For strictly silly reasons, bunnies became the leitmotif of the blog. But let me put your liberal hearts to rest. No American bunnies were hurt by us with bullets or otherwise. In fact, during the last leg of our trip we even put ourselves slightly at risk to save a bunny. The event in question was quite surreal.

After visiting Yellowstone park, (about which I shall report in a future blog), we decided it was time to haul ass homeward. So we put the petal to the metal on Interstate 90 somewhere in Montana. This eventually took us in a south-easterly direction back through Wyoming. America is quite sparsely populated in these states and this section of highway was practically devoid of traffic.

We filled up with gas in Buffalo, WY at about 11:00pm. I had enough of driving at that point, so B took over. B loves to drive! We got back on the I-90 and drove for an hour to Gillette, WY without seeing a single vehicle on our side of the highway. There weren't many cars or trucks traveling in the other direction either.

That in itself was quite strange. But to make things more interesting mother nature was putting on an electrical storm in the distance. Every one or two seconds lightning strikes lit up the horizon to our left. No rain was falling on us, but a wind was making itself felt.

The lightning didn't stop. And still no cars were to be seen either in front or behind us. The whole scenario started to resemble a clip from a David Lynch movie. We wondered maybe there was a good reason why there were no cars on the road. Do other people know something we don't? Is there a huge storm on the way?

And there was the bunnies. Dead bunnies. Sad, but true. I-90 that night was not very bunny friendly. Numerous bunny carcasses had the highway looking like a macabre canvas of jack-rabbit destruction. Some made it only a few feet on to the road. Others made it half-way, before some driver/performance artist, whose tires, which the laws of physics momentarily transformed into grotesque, deadly paintbrushes, smeared fur and blood into the asphalt.

But not the artist who was driving our car! Driving in the left lane, B spotted a fury creature hop into view from the left. SWERVE TO THE RIGHT. Saved! No one was driving behind us so that bunny probably made if off the road. Kukos to B! However, if there was traffic next to us, swerving would have been out of the question.

After that B stayed right in the middle of both lanes to allow for extra reaction time. At one time our headlights reflected back from the eyes of some deer on the side of the road wondering if they should risk crossing.

After an hour of living through this David Lynch movie we decided to pull off the highway at Gillette and stay the night.

Let me now provide a more balanced view of bunnies for those who think they can't be anything but cute and angelic.

I ask that you recall a scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

You may remember the point in the film where King Arthur and his Knights suffer a defeat at the fangs of a killer bunny who was guarding a cave. More than one Knight of Camelot met his end there. This promted King Arthur to remark, "That bunny is dynamite!"

You never know. What would you do if you saw this little fellow hurling towards you? Would you squeeze the trigger of your Magnum .357 or your Ak-47?

It's a gas, gas, gas!

I wish we counted how many derelect gas stations we encountered on our trip. These lovely ones are from Youngstown, OH. Youngstown is a rustbelt town. Steel mills used to stretch for as far as the eye could gaze. The steel mills and their well paying jobs are almost all gone now. And many of the former workers and residents have left for brighter prospects elsewhere.

Housing prices in Youngstown are cheap. There are places where you can purchase a two-bedroom bungalow for as little as $5000.00 to $7000.00. Meanwhile in San Francisco that's what you would pay for a parking spot for one year.

Another interesting feature of Youngstown was the frequent occurance of arson. We passed a few burnt out homes on which the fire department attached an official sign stating arson as the cause. Our host in Youngstown told us that back in the day, she saw a burning house every morning on the way to work. People would have their homes burned to collect insurance money. Social decay manifests itself in bizarre and tragic ways.

"The French don't have a word for entrepreneur."

That's what George Bush allegedly said. This photo was taken a while back as we drove into Chicago. Click on it to see the entrepreneurial spirit of americans.
Most people would just leave an old bus alone. But someone had a vision of a mobile watermelon market.

This little heart of mine. I'm gonna let it shine!

San Francisco is my favourite city in N. America, maybe the world.

We fired guns in Ohio, in S.F we did something also very American, we went to church.
But not some conservative, old testament, you're going to hell church. We went to a gospel church called Glide. Check it out at www.glide.org

Glide is deeply involved in the social justice movement in the S.F area. It's a community of people from different backgrounds and religions who get together to make a difference, but most important to sing their hearts out. Most of the Sunday service is taken up by singing.

Our Sunday in San Francisco went something like this.
Coffee house culture has moved from Europe to America. And it's the europeans who brought it here. We had our morning coffees at Caffe Trieste, which has been a landmark in S.F since the 1950s. The walls are covered with pictures of famous patrons over the years. Bill Cosby had a cup of Joe here.



From Caffe Trieste we headed to Church. We arrived at Glide half an hour early to get a seat. And lucky we did, because the place was packed for the 11:00am service. People were sitting in the aisles by the time the choir took to the stage and the band started up. The whole place, us included, sang out, "This little heart of mine, I'm gonna let it shine." That was just the opening number. For the next hour we were overwhelmed by the quality and vigour of the choir and the musicians. After each song, everyone assembled broke out in wild applause.

Glide is about people coming together and changing things in the temporal world. If you are secular or even agnostic you'll find your spirts will be lifted by this place and its people. When you're in S.F make sure you check it out.

On the road to Northern California

Being in Los Angelos for just a little while has given me a new appreciation for Toronto. If you think the traffic and pollution are bad in Toronto, then go check out L.A.

Because of congestion and the expanse of the city, it takes a long time to get from place to place in the Los Angelos area.

We took HWY 1 north out of the city. First stop was Santa Barbara. Not bad. Santa Barbara is a place I'd like to return to. The highway going north follows the coast and offers beautiful vistas of the pacific. You drive on the side of cliffs.

L.A is a great big freeway.

We spend most of our time in traffic. It takes a long time to get from place to place in the Los Angelos area. The air pollution is unbelievable. Driving from Las Vegas, San Bernadino is the first city in the greater L.A. area that comes into view. It is at that point that a thick layer of pollution blankets the entire region.




We visited Venice beach today. Not many people were working out at muscle beach.





We stayed the last two nights at a motel called Saga in Pasadena. Depeche Mode played here years ago at the Rose Bowl. Those of you who are fans and saw the film Depeche Mode 101 will remember. I don't know why I'm mentioning that. It just comes to mind.

California Uber Alles!

You need to cross the Mojave desert to get to the city of Angels.
Our first stop was at Big Boy burgers. Sorry Cal!


The above picture is of the Santa Monica pier.

Will blog more soon. But, let me state that no bunnies were ever harmed for our entertainment pleasure.

Viva Las Vegas!

The Hoover Dam is located just outside Vegas. We crossed right over it to get to the city of sin.



The Luxor was our home base in Vegas. www.luxor.com

I was in Las Vegas ten years ago. Back then I wanted to stay in the world's largest pyramid, but it was booked solid. Ten years is a lifetime in Vegas. So much has changed. Several new hotels have appeared on the strip since then. The most impressive are New York, New York, The Venetian, and Paris.

If you haven't been to Las Vegas stop reading this blog and go book a trip!

Every hotel is like a giant amusement park. It doesn't matter if you gamble or not. Speaking of which... I had some early luck on the slot machines. I spent five dollars at the slots at Luxor and managed to win $8 in five minutes. I took the winnings and walked to New York, New York and put that money into the Elvis slot machines. As soon as the machine took my money I heard Elvis say, "Thank-you very much!" After a few minutes I doubled my money. Thank-you Elvis! I left the King and proceeded to another machine thinking lady luck was shining down on me. I hit the $1 slots. That's when the downward spiral started. $40-$50 later I realized the odds were stacked against me.

We found the Venetian to be the most impressive resort. Why go to Venice, the Venetian is just as good and it doesn't flood, at least not yet. There is a shopping mall with an actual canal and gondolas which can take you from high-end shop to high-end shop. The security guards are even dressed like carabinieri.

What would Jesus drive?

After Arcosanti we drove down to Phoenix and Scottsdale to visit my relatives. I spent the afternoon catching up with my great aunt and cousin and Mr. B went to check out the third Frank Lloyd Wright house on our trip, called Taliesin West. When Mr. B returned we were treated to an italian-american sandwich buffet extavaganza. Espresso chasers capped the evening.

We spent the night with another cousin who also lives in Scottsdale. After we booked our rooms in Vegas we jumped in the Jaccuzzi to unwind after three weeks of heavy vacationing. It's been so long since I've been on an extended vacation that I've forgotten how hectic it can get.

And off to city of sin called Las Vegas on Sunday morning. Lest we forget that it was the Lord's day, we had this reminder in Kingman, Arizona. I've seen plenty of store-front churches in my day, but never a store-front catholic church. Can you imagine asking someone in Kingman: "Excuse me, how do I get to St. Mikes?"



It's great to know Jesus would not have to spend 40 days walking in the desert to get to Las Vegas to save all the sinners. St. Mikes has a late 1970s Cadillac with A/C available. In America, J.C rides in comfort and style.

Nature in the desert

We had a unexpeted guest the night of our stay at Arcosanti in Arizona. When Mr. B was getting ready for bed he spotted this tarantula lurking in the shadows!

Being city folk, we didn't know what to do with this giant spider. We didn't want to crush it because this was Arcosanti and at Acrosanti they have a saying: "let nature deal with nature". We also knew that tarantulas are less likely to hurt you than bunnies. So we covered the itsy-bitsy spider with a waste basket for the evening. I went to bed and quite by chance listed to Lullaby by The Cure. "On candy-striped legs, spiderman comes. Moving closer and closer to the edge of my bed."

Next morning we inquired as to what we should do with the king of spiders. We were assured that they can safely crawl on you and that they rarely bite you. If they do bite the worse than can happen is a nasty infection near the spot it chooses to stike.

Just as we decided to release the spider outside, we spotted another killer bunny! It was "cage match" time. We put the bunny and spider in the garbage bin. "Two go in! On comes out alive!"

Who do you think won? Please post your bets!

Remember, just because bunnies look cute, doesn't necessarily make it so.

Route 66 in Texas and New Mexico

Sorry, this posting should have been done a couple of days ago. That was when we reached the half-way point of Route 66.

Route 66 passes through the northern portion of Texas known as the panhandle. Amarillo was our only stop. The Big Texan is the most famous restaurant on the Route and its claim to fame is the 72oz steak it serves to the courageous or the stupid. If you can eat it and all the fixings within an hour it’s free. We didn’t bother. Instead we had what’s called a chicken fried steak. This is a portion of ground beef, which is breaded and deep fried, and covered with a creamy, fatty, disgusting, artery clogging gravy.



No tofu was on the menu but there was rattlesnake for the daring and bored. However, there was a warning for anyone who ordered it. “Lots of bones, not much meat. And if you complain you’ll get a live one!”

Just down the highway lies the Cadillac Ranch. You can see the row of graffiti scrawled vintage Cadillacs buried nose first in a field as you drive by. They are arranged in the earth at the same angle as the pyramids in Egypt. The Cadillac Ranch is a project by the Ant farm collective. Bruce Springsteen has a song called Cadillac Ranch.

We hauled ass into Tucumcari, New Mexico and spent the night at the Super 8 Motel. We noticed a couple of the classic Route 66 motels on the main strip advertised that they were American owned. It seems immigrants from India who acquire ownership of motels on the route generate animosity.

Tucumcari had the best selection of abandoned gas stations and other defunct businesses from the hey day of Route 66, thus far. At the same time it also had many still viable businesses. We stopped to check out THINGS.



The store was filled with the possessions of people who once lived in the town but left after Route 66 ceased being an important east-west road. I bought a pamphlet from the 50s that shows farmers how to prepare for a nuclear war.

We had high expectations of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Santa Fe is the third largest market for art in the U.S. B says: “This fact illustrates the old adage that you shouldn’t underestimate people’s capacity for bad taste. To explain how bad the art is to Canadians, just try to imagine Robert Bateman crossed with heavy metal fantasy art of naked Indians, or shall we say “noble savages”.



Most of the built environment of Santa Fe is done in the adobe style, including the strip malls and malls in the suburbs. At first, this was a nice change and we found it novel. However, it quickly became tiresome. Despite the city’s rich past, the contemporary cultural landscape of Santa Fe seems little more than a southwest Indian themed shopping mall selling art and trinkets to tourists. It seems, Santa Fe’s potential has been squandered.





However, Santa Fe is home to the oldest church in America. San Miguel was built in 1610.

Albuquerque, NM was next. We stopped for diner at the Route 66 Diner. The city has strong Latin and Native American characteristics. Unlike Santa Fe it seemed like a real place.

We continued to Grants, NM for the night. We stayed at a Motel 6, but had we known earlier we would have stayed at The Mission. It is a guesthouse run by a friendly couple. They rent only one lovely guesthouse behind their café by the week or month. It’s great home base to explore the surrounding areas in New Mexico and Arizona. The Painted Desert and Petrified Forest in Arizona are within easy reach. www.grantmission.com



The only book that matters in America.

Utopia in the desert.

This is where we stayed on Aug. 4. It's called Arcosanti. www.arcosanti.org It is an environmentally self-sustainable community in central Arizona. It is the brainchild of Paolo Solari. It hosts a small community of permanent residents and artists who stay for a short term. A few rooms are availabe for visitors. It's my favourite place to stay so far.

P.S. No bunnies were harmed in the posting of today's blog.

Grand Canyon

We spent the night of Aug. 3 in Grand Canyon National Park. Although, we thought we were in Banff, Alberta, minus the mountains. The park has an alpine or mountain feel to it.

The elevation at the southern rim of the Canyon is 7000 feet above sea level. The Colorado river lies 2000 ft below. We arrived the night before at approx: 7:30pm. First impressions? This cannot be real!


This can’t be real! As I approached the ridge and the canyon came into view I thought I was staring at an unbelievably large painting. The jagged red slopes and layers of sediment that are thousands of years old and the vast spaces between them are difficult to do justice to with words. It is the most amazing sight I’ve experience in my life.

We spent the night in a room near the south rim. Sunrise on Aug. 4 was set for 5:33am. We got up at 5:15 am. It was about 5:50am when we reached the canyon. Luckily, there was just a little light to see where the edge lies. It would not take much to fall into the canyon at night. The edge is not fenced in many places.



We sat for about half an hour as sunlight penetrated the overcast sky and slowly gave form to the expanse of the canyon. Minute by minute as the light intensified, colours sharpened and shapes came into focus. Wow man, if I had some BC budd…

Heat wave in the east, rain and lots of it in the west.

Our host in Youngstown, OH, assured us that west of the Mississippi river we wouldn’t encounter rain. We have news for him!

As I write we are driving from the Grand Canyon to Phoenix, AZ. It is the second day for us in Arizona and the second day of rain. The outside temperature is 14 degrees Celsius. New York is suffering from temperatures in the high thirties.

The most rain we encountered thus far has been in the “desert” states of Arizona and New Mexico. These states have varied geography. We drove north to Santa Fe on a long section of highway through beautiful woods filled with evergreen trees. In the distance we saw continuous lightening strikes.

This is day two in Arizona and we haven’t seen Cacti yet.



As I write the rain has intensified. Both sides of Interstate 17 seems to be flash flooding. We just passed a portion of slightly flooded highway. We had to drive on the left shoulder to avoid the water. Those behind us might not be able to pass. This is the Arizona we didn’t hear about.

Landscapes and Lightening Strikes in New Mexico

New Mexico is my favourite state on Route 66 thus far. The old road through this state has plenty of evidence of its previous glory. Abandoned gas stations, hotels and other business line the route as it passes through small towns. Some "legendary" hotels have survived.

This is where the desert is beginning, although, New Mexico is very green in parts. The vista are incredible. The landscapes are generally flat with the occasional hill or mini-mountain off in the distance. The horizon stretches for miles. Parts of the highway are straight for miles and miles. Yesterday we were driving to Santa Fe on a very straight stretch of road. Up ahead we could see clouds and lightening strikes. At one point two bolts of lightening struck either side of the highway simultaneously.
Sorry, no pics of New Mexico yet. Perhaps later today or tomorrow.

The Desert, at last.

We reached the half-way point of Route 66 today. It's in Adrian, TX, just a few miles from the border with New Mexico.
These are a few pics of the cadillac ranch in Texas and a few pics of New Mexico.
Full report (sort of) to follow soon.