Dollar dives again

I came home just in time.
The dollar dropped to 77 cents, down 2.5 cents just today!

The people, the accents, the conversations

These people made my trip. They either ate with me, drank with me, drove me to interesting places, walked around those interesting places, or let me sleep on their couch or air mattress or even bed (not with them -- calm down). Or in some cases, all of the above.

• Doug and Cynthia in Halifax.
• Ryan and Maya in Washington.
• Don in Nashville.
• Phil in Nashville.
• Jim in Birmingham.
• Sean, Cole, and Stacey in New Orleans.
• Joana and Jeff in Chicago.
• Jen in Denver.
• The Cosgroves in Albuquerque.
• Laura in Austin.
• Sean and Cole again. Glorious.

Oh, and there were these secondary characters who livened up life on the bus:

• Javier the soon-to-be media baron from Orlando.
• The Drunk Texan who travelled 3,500 miles on the bus to three funerals in a week, and then visited his sister before she had triple-bypass surgery.
  
• Shelley and Stacey, two Canadian songwriters introduced to me at the Nashville hostel by the aforementioned Phil, another Canadian (who blogged about his time in the city)
  
• Pete the recent convict (no big deal, it was just residential burglary "for a good cause")
  
• Amanda the pregnant lesbian and former lover of a currently incarcerated ex-boyfriend.
• Weirdo, a.k.a. Captain Obvious, who was on the way to Oregon.
  
• Loudmouth in the back who called me "Toronto" (and Amanda "Germany")
• Gunshot victim in Salt Lake City (at the hands of a 95-year-old woman).
• Floridian woman who didn't believe a thing I said about Greyhound.
  
• Jeff the disgruntled, yet happy-go-lucky Floridian who was coming from a job in San Jose.
  
• Various barristas throughout America.
• Various crying babies across America.

Oh, and most of all. Man, I can't forget these people. They are arguably even more important than NOLA Sean, who opened doors to me all across the country:

• The bus drivers of America.
  

Some, though not all, wrap-up

A few weeks ago, I set off on an adventure to do two things: see America and meet Americans. The only planning I did was have money in the bank and a Greyhound pass that would take me just about anywhere. In other words, not much.

All things considered, then, the trip went well. It spanned twenty-five states and included a whole lot of nice, gracious, outgoing, and terribly friendly people. A hundred posts later, I think October Nick would be satisfied with November Nick's travels.

A sort-of recap of cities visited. Not driven through, but visited:

1. Halifax
2. Bangor
3. Boston
4. Washington, D.C.
5. Lexington, Kentucky
6. Nashville
7. Birmingham
   
8. New Orleans
9. Chicago
10. Denver
11. Salt Lake City
12. Albuquerque
    
13. Austin
14. Atlanta

And now, day-by-day distance covered in miles. Keep in mind, there were some rest days:

Day 1: 254 (Halifax to Bangor)
Day 2: 244
Day 3: 455
Day 5: 557
Day 6: 466
Day 7: 214
Day 9: 362
Day 14: 965 (New Orleans to Chicago)
Day 17: 1096 (Chicago to Denver)
Day 19: 592 (in air)
Day 21: 592 (in air)
Day 22: 479
Day 23: 849 (Albuquerque to Austin)
Day 26: 558
Day 28: 533
Day 29 and 30: 1,038 (Atlanta to Toronto)

Total: 9,254

Um. That's 14,806 kilometres. Or 493.5 kilometres a day.
That doesn't make sense. I can't fathom that.

Assuming the bus was always travelling at 70 miles per hour, the limit on the Interstate system, I was on a bus for just over 132 hours. Given the reality of roads, acceleration, deceleration, and construction, and traffic jams, bus time lasted much, much longer.

And all that doesn't include flying from Toronto to Halifax two days before the bus trip started.

This reflection stuff is fun. What to calculate next?

**

Oh, and please excuse the calculation of miles per day. It includes travel through the air, which it shouldn't for accuracy. But the point stands.

UPDATE: My friend Philippe reminded me that the Earth's diameter is roughly 12,800 kilometres. Take that, planet!

Map update: 19 November

I write this from Toronto, where my bus safely arrived this afternoon. Above is the completed map, roughly broken into the two halves of the trip (black = first half; blue = second half).

Below is the day-by-day map. It's a bit hard to follow in some places, and I spent multiple days in a few places, of course, but it at least illustrates how long (and short) some of the trips were. Check out Chicago to Denver, Albuquerque to Austin, and Atlanta to Toronto. Man oh man. Never do that.

The long (long, long, long) ride home

25 hours in total. Atlanta to Chattanooga to Nashville to Louisville to Cincinnati to Detroit to Windsor to London to Toronto (Yorkdale first, argh) to downtown Toronto. Don't ever do what I did after spending 32 days on the road.

It's fine to take one of these long trips, or even two or three -- okay, not three -- but the rides just don't end. Toss in some crying babies, some sickeningly irritable coughing from all sides, and the cramped space that is the Greyhound, and you get cabin fever almost instantly.

This, though, was one of the better looking parts of the trip. It's the Tennessee River just a few miles north and west of Chattanooga. Sorry for any glare.

Otherwise, not a fun trip. I did pick up a book called The Edifice Complex in Chattanooga (at the bus station, of all places) and got through some of it. Take a look at the review if you're interested. It's all about power and its relation to architecture, and vice versa -- really interesting stuff. I just couldn't get too far without getting annoyed by a shrill baby or gross cough or an unsettling bump in the road.

Georgia: Home of peaches, CNN, and an Olympic park

I was in Atlanta for just a few hours on Tuesday morning before the bus left for Toronto (well, the bus to Chattanooga, Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati, Detroit, London, and -- 24 hours later -- Toronto).

But I got the chance to walk around a bit and check some things out. I recorded this video in the Olympic park. It was cold and windy.



You'll notice I talk about the CNN Centre. Clearly, I was excited to see it. Walking inside, this is what confronts visitors:

CNN is an empire. The lady at the ticket booth volunteered that information. She probably noticed how obviously wide-eyed I was at the whole scene. I didn't care that the tour cost $12 -- this was CNN, everyone's favourite mainstream-media punching bag!

Well, the tour was just what you would expect: longish (about 45 minutes) and polished to the last detail. We walked past -- above, really -- some of the studios and hung around atop the newsroom for a few minutes as the tour guide, Anne-Claire (or Claire-Anne?), talked about how each worker bee contributed to the hive's uber success.

OK, so CNN doesn't have the best coverage of international events. I'd still kill to work in that newsroom. In the end, worth the $12. Maybe not for everyone, though.

AC did mention something towards the end of the tour that piqued my interest. She informed us all about the majesty of CNN's iReport system -- YouTube for citizen journalists. Her shining example of iReport at its finest was when one college student at Virginia Tech relayed his photos and videos very quickly after the shooting there. CNN was able to break the story before anyone else.

I asked AC if the kid was paid anything for his efforts. She said when people submit material, they allow CNN the right to use it but retain the right to sell it elsewhere. Answer: no. Interesting, I thought: CNN has created a means of working around freelancers, acquiring breaking news without paying a cent, and even giving the "iReporter" a few seconds of fame.

My partial diagnosis as a struggling freelancer: lame. The rest of me says it's smart business.

**

Last stop before the bus: the State Capitol. Why not, right? It's yet another dome. It's not as pretty or foreboding as some of its counterparts in other states. Here it is, in sunny glory:

Atlanta: First impressions

I walked out of the subway (called MARTA) after getting into Atlanta at about 11 p.m. and, almost immediately, three people asked me for money. And they were willing to help me out by showing me the way to the hostel where I had booked a room.

Two notes:
a) I had almost no money (one American dollar, five Canadian dollars)
b) These people clearly had never heard of the hostel ("You mean hotel?")

So one guy, Tyrone, insisted that he would help me. I knew the address of the place already and could probably guess just as accurately as he where it was, but what the heck. He seemed nice and I was too tired to say No Thanks.

We got to the place, which was seven or eight blocks from the subway, and I said I could really offer very little. I didn't want to insult him by giving him pennies. I did find that dollar bill and also gave him the five bucks. Hell, he had gone out of his way and was down on his luck.

Times like this on the trip, I realize that I still do have some money in the bank. Not too much, but enough that I don't have to help clueless quasi-tourists as they linger outside of a subway close to midnight.

A little later on, I was walking by a hotel a few blocks from the hostel. Another lady asked me for some money. Then, several very well-dressed people walked by, looking like they were on the way somewhere important.

I don't know too much about Atlanta -- 16 hours isn't much time to assess the situation -- but it seems like it's just one of many American (and Western, really) examples of poverty and wealth confronting each other each day, block after block, neighbourhood after neighbourhood.

**

Also, Atlanta has a lot of security cameras and what seemed like a pretty substantial presence of guards and police officers. Again, maybe it's where I was in the city (Midtown, looked like Yonge/Eglinton or Yonge/Sheppard), but I never felt entirely uncomfortable.

Another fine evening in NOLA

Ah, yes. A beautiful sunset to cap my last full day in the United States not on a bus. Tomorrow, the trip home begins. Atlanta, here I come.

Today, NOLA Sean, NOLA Cole, and I played Frisbee in Audubon Park. Perfect.

Remember "Fatigue"?

Yeah, that was lame. This is a bus trip. No flights home. There is nothing quite like seeing the country at 70 miles an hour, and 500 miles an hour from 30,000 feet up? That's just a cop-out.

See you at the finish line!

(*Which is, uh, undetermined as of this morning. Still negotiating with Toronto council and provincial and federal counterparts to close some streets and secure multi-level police presence. And I imagine most major national networks will be there, but we're still talking about financial compensation. Oh, the Queen has confirmed her attendance, though.)

Want to read a book?

Then go on a road trip. You'll read lots. Here is a list of what I've flipped through so far:

DelCorso's Gallery
Late Nights on Air
Dreams from my Father
Choke
How did the States get their Shapes?
In the Shadow of Watergate

Map update: 15 November

Ah, it's good to be home (away from home) here in sunny, if chilly, New Orleans. The bus was about 20 minutes late, but no matter. I ate pizza with NOLA Cole (a friend of NOLA Sean, and now a friend of mine) and all is swell.

You know, that map is looking pretty full by now...

Progressive opinion in the heart of Texas

While I was hanging out at the university today, I came upon today's Daily Texan, a pretty solid student-run daily.

There was a story in the opinion section lamenting the production of Longhorns apparel -- some of the most popular in the country, as Texas has a well-developed brand -- in sweatshops. Full text here and below:

UT’s Athletic Director Deloss Dodds once said of the University, “We’re not keeping up with the Joneses, we are the Joneses.” He’s right — there are few brands in America that are marketed as well as the severed bovine head we call our logo. A recent “Texas Monthly” article about the University of Texas machine was aptly titled “Come early. Be Loud. Cash in.” Selling merchandise is a good thing, and UT is better at it than any school in the country.

While I’ve always enjoyed walking around campus and being greeted by people wearing burnt-orange everything, it wasn’t until recently that I became cognizant of where all this apparel came from. As it turns out, the majority of UT apparel is manufactured in sweatshop conditions. While this fact in itself is troubling, more upsetting is that there has been a proposal in place for months now that would allow UT to eliminate the use of sweatshop labor in the production of its merchandise, and to date, it has not been accepted by the administration.

The initiative is called the Designated Suppliers Program, and it is a program that requires university licensees — in UT’s case, Nike — to source most University logo apparel from factories that have been determined through independent verification to be in compliance with their obligation to respect the rights of their employees. This includes the right to organize and bargain collectively and the right to be paid a living wage. To date, 44 universities have signed on to the program, including the entire University of California system, Duke University, Georgetown University and the University of Miami.

A sample cost breakdown conducted by GEAR for sports, an apparel company that markets the Champion brand, revealed how cost is distributed in the sale of a $37.99 sweatshirt at the University of Connecticut Co-op. It was revealed that only 18 cents was designated for the labor cost, which amounts to 0.047 percent of the total cost of that $37.99 sweatshirt. It should be noted that price is not dependent on what it costs to manufacture the product, but rather how much consumers are willing to pay for it. If the labor cost in the creation of merchandise were to double or even triple, the ultimate price shift the consumer would see would be non-existent or negligible. And based on sheer popularity, it’s probable that most fans would purchase a UT football jersey even if it was infested with Africanized bees, much less if it cost them a few pennies more.

The Oxfam UT Sweatshop Free Campaign has spearheaded the initiative to get President William Powers to sign on to the program. The group has been campaigning since last spring and submitted its first formal proposal to the administration in August. In a meeting with the administration last Monday, the group was told the University would not accept the proposal at that time, partly because of concerns that the program may violate antitrust laws.

Many of the schools that have refused to sign off on the agreement have had similar concerns, but these claims seem to be unsubstantiated. Donald Baker, a former assistant attorney general in charge of the Antitrust Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, wrote a 20-page memo concluding that the program does not interfere with antitrust law. In a follow-up letter about the memo to the Workers Rights Consortium, Baker wrote, “We continue to believe that the program, adopted in order to serve humanitarian goals rather than revenue enhancement, is consistent with the U.S. antitrust law.” I doubt that the program would pass the litmus test of 44 universities, including many that also license their apparel to Nike, if it were to lead to a lawsuit. As was said best in a press release put forth by Oxfam UT last week, “This is a moral issue and not a legal one.”

Signing on to the DSP holds no legal liabilities to the University. If Powers were to give the program his approval, it would merely mean that UT supports the program, and that when it gets implemented after all the legal processes, it will take part in providing a living wage and ensuring free association for laborers. More importantly, if the University signs on, it will set a very important precedent. Because The University of Texas sells more merchandise than any school in the nation, if we support this initiative, it will put pressure on other schools to perhaps do the same, because, alas, we are the Joneses.

Good words!

The Capitol: sun and clouds

A sunset on my time in Austin.
(With storm clouds brewing?)

UTexas: I want to study here

What an entrance to a school.

And this courtyard? What a place to snack and study. One of many spots on campus.

Take a _____ pill (bad pun)

Maybe the CFS referendum at the U of O would be less hostile if the school invested in one of these:

Texas likes football

If you pay attention to national college football rankings in the U.S., you'll know that Texas has two top-10 teams: the Longhorns here in Austin and Texas Tech down the road in Lubbock. Tech beat Texas the other week, which shook up the national ranking. It was a last-second thriller that, I must say, made me stand up and clap.

That game was in Lubbock. This is where the Longhorns play, though. Right on campus. Um, enough seats? (The school has 50,000 students, and they really love this team down here, so maybe there aren't enough!)

Oh, and everything is bigger in Texas. But apparently bigger isn't enough. Now they want to make Texas bigger-er.

Canadian student paper makes it to LBJ library?!

Yeah, that's right. I spotted this issue of the Ubyssey in the space-race exhibit at the Lyndon Johnson Library at the University of Texas. It's all about when the Soviets sent a dog to space. Apparently the nickname you see in the headline made waves.

Fatigue

Folks, it's almost time to come home. Forgive me if I don't take the bus the whole way and come up with some alternate arrangement. It turns out lack of sleep and bad diet, coupled with lots of walking or maybe a bus trip each day -- yeah, that takes its toll.

Even copious amounts of water don't fix it. My body does not want to sit on a bus. So New Orleans will wait one more day (departure tomorrow).

Getting up at 3:30 a.m. (Central time) to write for MediaScout doesn't help either. I think it's not a bad post today, all things considered.

See you soon enough in a province. Rest assured, the countdown is on!

Another town, another nice, nay, terrific person

In Austin, I met a girl named Laura. We ate enchiladas at a place called Mother's. It's at Duval and 43rd, if you're ever in the area. It was a delight.

The connection to Laura? If you've followed closely, you'll note that many of the people I have met and hung out with all know New Orleans Sean.

Sean, thanks. Laura, thanks.
America, you're welcome.

State Capitols: Texas edition

Texas loves Texas. Everything is big in Texas. Don't mess with Texas. Etc.

Sean from New Orleans told me that in Austin, the Capitol is actually bigger than that in Washington, D.C. I believe him. This one's huge.

As shown earlier, Americans love to mark their seats of government with domes to mark their seats of government.


Doesn't this shot look like sort of like that iconic image down Pennsylvania Avenue in D.C.?

More on food: IHOP is not for amateurs

I've eaten at Denny's. It's a pretty solid 24-hour joint that dots the landscape on both sides of the border. It's hard to beat their lumberjack slam. Denny's is a great place to pick up some free WiFi while you munch on some bacon, eggs, and hash browns.


Then, there is IHOP. I ate there tonight for the first time. Don't believe the hype. It's Denny's for pancake freaks. Actually, pancake Freaks. Upper case.

Case in point:

The undisputed champion of 24-hour breakfasts is Waffle House. It's not everywhere in the United States -- you won't find it in New England, most of Illinois, or the Midwest -- but Waffle House owns the American south's Interstate corridor.

Think Elgin Street Diner, but at every offramp you can find. Also, while Denny's and IHOP are all colourful with their logos, Waffle House is simple.

This one is in Birmingham, Alabama. I've only eaten at the Nashville location (er, one of the Nashville locations. There are several interchanges in the area).

Map update: 12 November

So I just got off the bus in Austin. It was an 18-hour trip across New Mexico and much of the Great State of Texas. By the way, it's just as big as it looks on the map.

Don't ever do what I just did. Somehow, the 23-hour trip from New Orleans to Chicago and the 24-hour trip from there to Denver both seemed easier to endure than today's beast of a ride.

Unfortunately, there were no real characters of note on any of today's three buses.

One woman going to Florida who didn't trust anything I said about our next destinations (that I was right every time isn't much of a boost. I just learned how to read directions as a child.). One drunk Texan who kept accosting people. A teenager coming back from Marine Corps training in San Diego. You know, same 'ol.

So that's that. Oh, and the blue on the map is sort of what I'm considering the second half of the trip, if only because I'm moving back to time-zone sanity (i.e. Eastern Standard Time).

VIDEO: Another day, another mountain

This time, the mountain was in Albuquerque. Dan and I took the world's longest tram (they keep reminding you of that) to Sandia Peak, which is a whopping 10,000+ feet above sea level. The tram isn't for weak stomachs -- just like the food -- but it's worth the ride.

Eating here is not for the weak

A gentleman named Dan, a son of Ellen who is a friend of my mother, took me 'round the city today. We saw some Petroglyphs, as noted, and we also went to the National Atomic Museum.

And then. And then we ate.

New Mexico loves food. They love Mexican food. They love eggs, re-fried beans, rice, cheese, cheese, chile (red and green), cheese, and honey. I don't know how I ate what I ate. Should have taken a picture. Then again, any record of having eaten that might hurt my stomach.

Food. Delicious, filling, and heart-attack inducing. Welcome to The Southwest America.

Petroglyphs

If you've been here, maybe Petroglyphs National Monument in Albuquerque wouldn't even be worth noting. I'm sure it's much the same. Lots of pictures on rocks. Example:

Next, I will show you what New Mexico looks like:

Rabbit-ing around New Mexico

I made it to Albuquerque, where Bugs Bunny never made a left turn he didn't regret. I am staying with maybe the nicest family in the world. More tomorrow.

Not-very-notable sighting

For those of you who have watched Red Dawn, the story of a group of rebels who fight off Soviet and Cuban Communists when they invade Colorado during World War III (and also the first-ever PG-13 movie), be jealous.

My bus drove right pas Las Vegas, New Mexico, where much of the film was shot. Ha!

Whoops, I skipped past the mountains

I don't know how much I should say about the mountains west of Denver. They were just as beautiful as you'd expect. You can find pictures of them just about anywhere on the Internet.

I didn't take my camera out for the excursion. Why not? I don't know. I guess I just wanted to enjoy the scenery without having to frame it all creatively. But rest assured they were no disappointment.

On this leg of the trip, new friend/tour guide Jen took me around. She lives in Denver, likes mountains, and drove there with me in the car. Up and up and up. And then up some more on foot. It was a fun time, to say the least. Jen: Thank you. Thank you so much.

Hilarious sign sighting #436C

Right off the bus in Santa Fe:

Jesus was a community organizer. Pontius Pilate was a governor."

Wow. At this point, that takes the Best Sign of the Month cake. It was made even better because I had spent the last hour on the bus listening to the Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack.

America: Land of the free, home of precipitation

After almost three weeks of sun or only partial cloudiness, America decided to rain. And it's going to keep doing that for the next couple of days (according to the only people less trustworthy than politicians). Try as I might, I probably can't escape it.

Notice how New Orleans isn't raining. It's just asking for me to come back. That's right, me.

The beginning of the final week

It might look like this:

Denver
Santa Fe
Albuquerque (Sleep)
Oklahoma City
Austin (Sleep)
New Orleans (Sleep)

It's no more than 10 hours between any of those cities, which is manageable.

Cool. The southwest!

Salt Lake wrap-up

So, I'm off to Denver tomorrow. But just a couple of things to note. The red dot in the city is (around about) where I am staying, and the one in the mountains is as far as I walked earlier this afternoon. OK, so it wasn't the top of the mountain. Give me some credit.

Oh, it's called Mount Van Cott. And Google Maps tells me I reached about 5,500 feet above sea level. Also, the range is known as the Wasatch Mountains -- part of the Rockies.

Some views from the north, southwest, and south:

VIDEO: Peek-a-boo with Salt Lake City

That's right. I'm treating my readers like small children. Behold.


I am out of breath, as you might hear.

Taste of home...

Or what I imagine is starting to happen more at home as November continues.

Oh, and here is the obligatory Temple shot. Yup, Mormons live in Salt Lake. If you want to make fun of them, please refrain from it in the comments and, instead, do so here.

Salt Lake: I had lots of misconceptions

Utah is, maybe rightfully, made fun of by a lot of people all over the place for its overt conservatism -- Mormons are populous here, after all. And their voting record en masse confirms it: 67 and 72 per cent for Bush, and 63 per cent for McCain just the other day.

Here is an example of Utah's wild west tendencies:


But it's not all gun shops in Utah. In fact, what I have discovered is that Salt Lake is, as most cities here are, a progressive enclave in a very, very conservative state. The county did vote for McCain by a very small margin (under 2,000 votes), but you might not even guess that by spending some time here.

Public transit here is pretty solid. There is light rail and a free-fare zone. There are a couple of other reasons to call this place progressive, bu my stupid mind has forgotten for the moment. That's a bit disappointing.

I think there was some kind of protest on Capitol Hill yesterday. Something about religion. A guy at a coffee shop just down the street from that gun shop told me that it really is a big deal here, but beneath the surface. It has replaced the racism of his southern upbringing, he said.

I saw some signs on both sides at the Hill.



Oh, here is another shot of the State Capitol. As you can see, Americans love domes.

They also love Capitol Hills. As far as such climbs go, Utah might have the country beaten.


Ouch. But the view from the top? Check this out:



I probably lost a gallon (hey, I'm in America) of water walking up and around this driest of climates, so I am now rehydrating. On to the next stop!

VIDEO: Salt Lake City from the top o' the library

This is a breathtaking view. The video probably won't express it because of the haze in the sky and the relative graininess of my camera. But seriously, the city essentially hits the mountains. Unbelievable. Or, believable, but hard to believe.



Hey, I got a haircut!

What binds us

Want to know what binds Canadian and American youth?

Is it love of democracy?
Faith that everyone gets a fair shot?
Freedom?
Liberty?

No. Everyone I have met loves Arrested Development.
Michael, Gob, Tobias, and the rest, you bring countries together.

Map update: 07 November

Just a quick jaunt over the Rockies to Salt Lake City, Utah. I never thought I'd go to Utah. Just a quick note: In both Denver and Salt Lake, there are free fare zones downtown. And both cities have rapid transit right downtown.

Salt Lake City: First impressions

I haven't flown to many places. Only once outside of Canada, and a handful of times in Canada. So I don't have a lengthy resume of breathtaking landings from which to draw.

But the descent into Utah's capital is something else. Mountains, the Great Salt Lake, what appeared to be a huge network of marshes, and a sunset. If they didn't ask us to turn all electronics off as we hit 10,000 feet, I would have snapped a picture!

Here is a shot courtesy Google Maps that gives an idea. I didn't glide in from space, but you get the picture.

Denver: The State Capitol

Things I learned on a tour of Colorado's State Capitol:

• Colorado was almost called Idaho
• State representatives and senators are paid $30,000 and expected to work other jobs
• Water is a delicacy in Colorado. There isn't very much, as Denver only receives about 15 inches of rain every year. See: rain shadow. (Thanks, grade nine geography)
• When Japanese-Americans were expelled from the west coast in 1941, and most inland states denied them from entry, Colorado decided to play hero:

During World War II, Colorado governor Ralph Lawrence Carr was the only elected official to publicly apologize for the internment of American citizens. The act cost him reelection, but gained him the gratitude of the Japanese American community, such that a statue of him was erected in Sakura Square in Denver's Japantown.

Wow. All this in just 45 minutes.

Salt Lake, you're in my crosshairs

I figured out how to get to Salt Lake today, to find the hostel I booked this morning before being shut out by both bus and train: the air.

My chariot has not docked at gate C43 yet, but thanks to Denver Airport's free wireless, I can show you what the gate next to mine looks like, with mountains (way off) in the background. Oh, technology.

Today's task: Make it to the Great Salt Lake

I've been told that city is made entirely out of salt and have decided to bring lots of fresh water. Demandigans!

Then it's back here to Denver because on Sunday: mountains.

UPDATE: It turns out that it was pretty hard to get out of Denver and then get back by Sunday without spending the whole time on a bus. So Denver it is for a little while longer!

More chronological disorder: Videos from Grant Park

NOTE: Please turn volume down to a comfortable level for the following videos. There is a lot of annoying background Obama cheerleading.

Video the First: a pre-game interview with friend and associate Scott Bedard:



Video the Second: the end of the countdown to West Coast polls closing. And reaction. Notice the shakiness of the camera. People were bashing all around in jubilation.



Video the Third: a post-game interview with Scott.



Please ignore the shoddy cameraman-ship. But please appreciate the effort!

Denver: First impressions

Around the corner from the Denver bus terminal, this banner adorned a wall.

The Denver Daily News tells me that Democrats picked up a Senate seat and a House seat in addition to, of course, voting for Obama. So there are now two Republicans in a traditionally red congressional delegation.

Colorado: Blue rectangle in Red swath

Map update: 06 November

As you can see, Greyhound doesn't always allow you to go in straight lines. That last 23-hour leg (24, actually, since we dropped a time zone) was something else. Turns out Kansas looks exactly how you think it would.

Tumbleweed.
Rolling.
Slowly.

Cars kicking up dust on dirt roads reaching to the horizon.
And the flattest horizon you can imagine.

Night and day are interchangeable 0n the Great Plains.

Location: Grant Park

This post is a bit out of chronological whack, but it's the first opportunity I've had to post some pictures. Videos will take a bit longer to upload, as I can't find a solid connection around here. But the videos are pretty hilarious. Anyways.

..

Last night, the mood in Grant Park was at first apprehensive. The crowd was very young and very energetic, but also on edge. It grew excited in spurts, wavered, and then cheered again. Every projected victory was cause to stand, but then the mass would settle again. It became clear that everyone was waiting for the killer blow.

And then CNN declared Obama the winner in Virginia. That made the result inevitable. Five minutes before the west coast polls closed, everybody stood for a final time. And then...

Euphoria.

CNN declared Obama the president-elect. Emotions exploded. Jubilation. Celebration. It's likely impossible to understate the overwhelming relief and raw emotion that lasted and lasted until cameras moved to Phoenix.

McCain delivered his concession speech -- gracious, I thought, maybe more gracious than anybody might have expected in the heat of the moment -- and the Obama faithful awkwardly booed and applauded in spurts. In the end, not an unexpected concession. McCain had spent a few days weeks attacking Obama to the core, but last night he returned to a more humane tone. The crowd in Grant Park settled on polite applause as McCain wrapped things up.

A few minutes later, a miniature eternity to the happiest people in Chicago, Obama took the stage. His speech grabbed the crowd, and they didn't let go, well, probably until they fell asleep.

Critics can probably point holes in the speech. He implied that the United States became a country in 1787, when it ratified its constitution ("I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years"). I always thought they liked to start in 1776 (232 years ago). Perhaps I'm being petty.

The speech was pure rhetoric. But last night, tonight, and years from now, you will probably find more than a few commentators who will call it perfect.

Some post-game pictures. Sorry for the blur. I figure they're still worth posting.