Tag Ground Travel

We recently flew from China to the U.S via Japan. What a nightmare. You can read about the travels here. Once in the states we did a few short road trips across country. One from Chicago to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan, another from there through Canada to New England, and a third from there to North Carolina. All of these road trips were amazing, but they were not as relaxing or inviting as a cruise. So in the middle of all of these chaos, rushing, hurrying, gas price monitoring and construction navigation, we’re reminded of how wonderful it really is to just relax on a cruise.

With our little baby we’re not permitted to be on the high seas until she is 6 months old, for some cruise lines, or a year for the remainder. That was a real disappointment for us when leaving China as we had hoped to hop on one of Cunard’s Around-the-World cruise legs and get from Hong Kong to Europe, and then from Europe it’s fairly easy to hop over the pond to the US on any cruise carrier. After talking with Cunard we learned they make no exceptions to that rule, and little Gwen was only a month old when we wanted to cruise out. Oh well. So fly we did, and once again I’m forced to admit just how mind-numbingly exhausting and horrible it is to fly. If she had been allowed on the cruise, then on the ship we would have come!

One of the best things about cruising is just how totally coddled you are. From the moment you wake up your day is planned for you– if you want. Activities nearly every hour! You have food at your fingertips, a pool, gym, spa, and of course the option to just sleep on deck or in your cabin. On a flight you get nothing but rude looks from flight attendants, soda and a box lunch that would be perfect for a third world prison. On a road trip you eat hunches over the steering wheel, fretting about burning gas to heat the car while you eat, and constantly in danger from bad drivers, construction or just road neglect. I’ll take the cruise, please.

They aren’t even that expensive anymore. Sometimes the same cost as flying, depending on your departure port.

So as we finish our road trips across America I’m eagerly looking forward to our next cruise. Once the baby is bigger, that is.

We’ve met quite a few people who make their money on the road in interesting ways. Whatever allows you to travel and make a bit of cash to break even is good enough for most.

Surprisingly, though, we’ve met a rash of people recently who have made their travel money playing poker. If you’re interested in making your money via gambling you can try a site like Playpoker.com, where you’ll get the opportunity to play and earn a few bucks in the process. In Beijing recently we met a lucky fellow who won a jackpot and used all of his winnings to fund his entire trip to Asia– several months on the road in exotic lands. A few years ago we met another man who would play online for hours each day, thinking of it as his 9-5pm job. He would pull in thousands each month and once he’d saved enough he took off on a round-the-world tour. If you know what you’re doing, playing poker online can really rake in the dough. Whatever gets you back on the road!

We’ve also met people who, like us, make their money selling their experiences in the form of writing contracts. Some have written books, some have lucrative blogs (those with SEO experience, anyway) and some do journalism or travel pieces as they tour. This is a great way to make travel cash if you’re a decent writer and have a few contacts in the industry somewhere. Sadly, the field is overcrowded and standards have dropped.

We also met a fellow who makes his travel cash building websites. It’s a mobile industry– you can do it from anywhere! He sets up a few website contracts and then travels as he builds them. It’s difficult to find constant internet access in some regions of the world (ahem, Mongolia!) but if you know how to structure a decent site (and perhaps a bit about SEO and marketing) this is a lucrative potential way to make travel cash.

Whatever helps you fund your travels can’t be a bad thing! Get out there, try a few of these techniques and make a few bucks to extend your travels or launch a new adventure. The road awaits!

A friend sent me this photo recently and as many of you know, this is an issue we’re pretty passionate about. There is crap public transportation in America, and yet we pioneered using the railway to link our two beautiful coasts. Apparently we haven’t updated our trains since they were first rolled out on the tracks. It’s disgusting. Every time I take Amtrak in the states I feel dirty, but the trains are basically the only way to get from place to place without flying or owning a car. Why do they have to be so horrible?

That Russia has super sweet trains and we don’t is a bit shocking. But even France can get it together. Wow. Low blow. China and Japan are at the forefront of technology with trains and while China has suffered a devastating crash on it’s high-speed train, that was ruled human error and everyone is moving on (with trepidation). Japan’s trains are one of the only ways to get around the country, which is super cool.

Imagine how much more time you’d have to play angry birds if you didn’t have to drive? You could just plop down in a seat and read or work on your laptop or finally figure out how 90% of the iPad works. Driving a car is fun, and necessary if you live out in the countryside in the USA, but for most people traveling form say New York to DC should involve sitting on a nice, clean, high-speed train for an hour or two while perfecting your aim at digital paper toss.

I’m still fuming about France’s sleek train.

In our travels around this pretty blueberry planet we’ve only ever seen one train as horrible and unmentionable as an Amtrak train– and that was in Kazakhstan where we witnessed cops climb on board, take off his cap and pass it around the cabin as all the passengers filled it up with cash. When we got to our destination we saw people un-tape bags of ______ from their chests and clamber down the ancient stairs. That was horrible. HOWEVER, on one Amtrak trip a lady asked me to watch her screaming baby while she went to the bathroom. An hour later the thing still howled and screamed and the lady wasn’t back. The cabin attendant finally found her in the bathroom with a needle in her arm. Not that different, really. And yet the trains in Slovakia were awesome, clean, sleek and super shiny and no one O.D.-ed in the bathroom or had ____ taped to their bellies.

I’m all for spending a few of my tax dollars on better, faster, less embarrassing trains. And while we’re at it (don’t get me started on this) better roads. The German autobahn doesn’t have potholes filled with black tar all over the place. Why can’t we build a decent road? AGHHHH!!!!!!

We pulled out of Khovd behind schedule and a bit fearful of our Citroen Saxo’s ability to make it all the way to UlaanBataar. The gear linkage continued to pop out roughly every 50k. We would all jump out, jack up the car, and Bill would do his magic under the machine while Mike and I repacked the car and got ready to toss the jack in the trunk. We could fix the issue and be mobile again within five minutes. Despite this, the fear was ever-present that one of these times it would not be as simple a fix as a duct-tape band around the linkage. We held a short team meeting and decided to forge ahead. We were now convoying with two other cars. A Suzuki Swift with an Aussie and a Irish guy, and a Fiet Diablo with a Norwegian duo in it carrying a hitch-hiking Irish and a waylaid Canadian. Together, we set off towards the next check point, with everyone involved fully aware that our little Citroen Saxo might not make it.

That first day we made it roughly 100 miles, traveling for roughly seven hours. We didn’t stop until well into the night. At one point the road disappeared and our three cars could be seen from a distance, I’m sure, bobbing around on the Steppe going nowhere in particular. Since we couldn’t see the road, we decided to stop. The Norwegians took off to scout out the road, telling the other cars not to turn off their lights. Naturally, once they were out of range we hit the lights and watched them drive around in circles across the Steppe for a few moments before taking pity on them. We set up a campfire, set up our tents and cooked a massive joint meal of ramen and Norwegian military ration packs. That night it rained, and it became apparent to Mike and I that our trusty tent was no longer water proof. Rivers of water ran down the interior of the tent and the bottom, far from being water proof, was now a swimming pool holding our sleeping bags. We jumped out as soon as the rain let down and slept restlessly in the car.

If we thought things would get easier from this point on we were sorely mistaken. In the morning, we packed up our soaking wet belongings and hit the non-existant road. We eventually found the path we needed through the hills and saw a road up ahead in the distance. As with all things in Mongolia, our roof rack began to wear and tear and less then an hour after departing it slid off the roof. We spent an hour jerry-rigging the rack, ripping apart the useless bits and duct-taping the entire newly constructed frame to the car. Thanks to the Norwegians, we had a few extra zip ties to secure it. We set off, leaving a pile of broken roof rack bits in the grass. About ten minutes later, the gear linkage popped again.

Despite all the problems with our car, what happened next was the biggest surprise of the day. I was riding in the front seat of the Fiat Diablo with Aslan, the Norwegian warrior. He was in the midsts of telling me that the only thing that could disable his beast of a car was a computer error. We jumped up on the road that we had all seen in the distance and within five meters of riding on smooth asphalt the Fiet went dead. Aslan was as calm as when the Vikings invaded the New World, and jumped out of the car to assess the damage. Five hours later, there was nothing to be done. The engine was jerry-rigged in much the same fashion as our roof rack, with wires and plugs duct tapped around pipes and hoses. It looked like modern art, and it worked…. for a while. Eventually the Fiat needed a tow, and a friendly Red Cross volunteer showed up with a Jeep just in time to town the Fiat to the top of the hill where a small collection of gers stood around a tiny shop. There was literally nothing else in sight for miles. The Red Cross worker spoke some English and explained that she could secure a tow truck tot take the Fiat to Ulaan Bataar, meanwhile the Norwegians donated their tool kit to the Jeep driver for the tow. It slowly became obvious to us that the tow truck could not materialize for days and the cost was skyrocketing the more people got involved. It wasn’t looking good for the trusty Fiat. Just when we were all discussing how to move forward without abandoning any of our convy, the Canadian walked over the hill with a bearded Aussie in tow to save the day.

Coming next– How an Aussie in the Mongolian Outback Saved the Rally for our Norwegian Heroes

We anticipated a bit of hassle crossing the Ukrainian border into Russia, but we in no way were prepared for the events that transpired when we finally reached the Ukrainian departure point and the Russian entry border. It was 6:30pm when we pulled into a line of cars to exit Ukraine, the line stretched from the gates ahead of us which were barely visible, to well behind us only minutes after our arrival. We got out of the car, as did members of the Mongol Schumachers and the Face Race team. When we needed to move forward in line we all pushed our cars in neutral—making quite a scene for the bored Ukrainians milling about drinking beer and waiting their turn in line.

Finally reaching the front, we were given the royal treatment. Out three cars were pulled over to a special spot while we filled out our customs forms. Bugs were out in full force and it was still over 90 degrees. We were all drenched in sweat, and, having not found a shower for the past three days we were not exactly an eye-pleasing sight. It was no wonder, then, that the border guards gave us wary looks as we scribbled our information down and collapsed on the hood of the car. We got our passports stamped and, headed to the next window. Three guards asked me for a present. I said I didn’t understand and flashed my best ‘don’t I look like Drew Berrymore’ smile. They smiled back and said, “You know, Thomas Jefferson is my friend. All the presidents are my friend.” I smiled and said they were my friends too. What a creative way to ask for money, really. I wasn’t unimpressed. The guard held up a small Ukrainian coin and said “Thomas Mark, you have?” Bill and Mike, having come up behind me, interpreted this to mean he was a coin collector. Someone rushed to the car and found a nikle that had been rolling around the back seat for the past two weeks. The guard took it, laughing, and then asked for a coin from the British team behind us. Perhaps he really was a coin collector. So, after about 2 hours, we were officially out of Ukraine! Does a nickel count as a bribe? I’m going to say no on that.

We drove off, it was dark now so we rounded a corner and were confronted with an unwelcoming sight. The line for the Russian border was as long as the Ukrainian one had been. We got out of our cars and snacked on food found in the truck or between seat cushions. We played games, told stories and all the while we pushed our car down the line. Finally at the front, we got stamped into Russia and we piled back into our car, shocked at how easy the crossing was. We had heard it would be the hardest border yet, and one that no one could make it through without paying a bribe. As we sped the car up we exchanged smiles and then, when a customs official jumped in front of the car with a waving flashlight, we watched each other’s smiles turn into straight lines.

We were instructed to pull the car into a dark parking lot with no cameras or lighting. A dog was in a nearby cage barking at the stray cats that strolled by tauntingly. Bill, who has the car in his name, was sent to talk with the guards alone. We waited….and waited….. we played with the cats and dogs, we counted stars, we exchanged life stories with members from the other two rally cars, and we even got to the point of collapsing on the hood of our cars again, preparing to nap. Finally, Bill returned having paid no bribe but having purchased our auto insurance for Russia. Two guards accompanied him to the car with flashlights. “Here it comes.” I thought. I knew we have booze in the trunk (what respectable rallier doesn’t?) as well as a few strange items like a hatchet and pocket knives which I was concerned might raise questions. But, the guards were our age and very jovial. They asked if we had a present for them, and we said we didn’t. They asked for a small bottle of booze, so we offered them cigarettes, which they didn’t want. They saw a bottle of beer we had picked up in Romania for free, and the younger of the two officers stuck it in his pocket and said, “this is gift for me.” Since it was a skunky beer that had been in a heated trunk for 4 days we were happy to have it disposed of, and smiled as we shook hands and said our farewells. Does a beer count as a bribe?

We rolled into Odessa quite late in the evening, having been held up at the border a bit longer than anticipated. Odessa came highly recommended by our Ukrainian friends in Minnesota, as well as by a friend whose father lives in the Crimea. Apparently during the cold war, Odessa was infamous for its webs of spies from both sides fighting for information and control. I was intrigued and when doing the initial route planning from the States we simply could not imagine going any other way but through Odessa.

We spent the first hour and a half driving around looking for a place to spend the night. We checked several hostels found on hostel world only to discover they were abandoned apartment complexes or simply a field or parking lot. Eventually we found a cheap hotel, but the advertised prices were off by a dozen Euro so we simply didn’t want to pay it. We asked at the hotel if we could park our cars in their protected parking area for a Euro, they said “sure!” so we positioned are cars near several other rally cars in the parking lot and decided to sleep in the cars to save money. But first, it was time to meet the other ralliers and find out what the latest gossip was.

We found a nearby pub and, not surprisingly, about twenty ralliers. They had been in a caravan of eight cars, which meant extremely slow progress. Nevertheless, they had beat us there, which doesn’t say a lot for our speed. We introduced ourselves and soon were engulfed in great conversations with amazing people from all over the world.

As the night wore on people began to drift off to find a place to sleep. We all moved our cars towards the water a bit and several teams through up their tents right by the side of the road. Mike and I slept in the Face Race car while Bill reclined in our ATC car. The Face Race crew have an instant pop-up tent so they threw that up near the road. Surprisingly, the police did not kick us out.

In the morning we all felt a bit gross having spent the night drinking and then sleeping in hot, disgusting-smelling cars. Mike, Bill and I walked down to the Black Sea to take a quick dip. I decided not to get in, but once we had walked all the way down the hill to the water I changed my mind and jumped in fully clothed. It was the closest thing to a shower in several days, and it was wonderful. We swam out a ways and just enjoyed the feeling of being cool for a change rather than dripping sweat. When we had been in long enough, we walked back to the cars and brushed our teeth and got cleaned up (as well as one can on the side of the road).

Everyone was milling about, so we made plans to head to the Steps of Odessa, a famous and beautiful area a bit north of our current position. We set off, the Face Race team in tow, and a new car joined our mini convoy, the Mongol Schumachers. We hit the steps within the hour, and found all manner of strange sights before us.

One man had a pet alligator and parrot, another had an owl and a monkey. For a few bucks you could play with the exotic creatures and have your picture taken. We opted against it for sanitation reasons, and bounded up the steps to do the happy dance from Rocky. Classic.

Back at the cars, I met an amazing gentlemen who is friends with Charlie Boreman (who rides with Ewan McGregor and co-wrote Long Way Round, and several other books). This guy was extremely interesting, and was going on yet another round-the-world bike trip. You never know who you’ll meet in strange places, but you can guarantee they will be much more interesting than the folks you meet back home.

We chatted with the bikers for a while before hitting the road. The goal was to make it to the Russian border, but as the goal was entirely unrealistic we thought we’d see how far we could get.

One of the most common questions we get is about financing our travels. We left Shanghai, our apartment there and our jobs in May of 2009. It is now July, 2010 and we’ve traveled for over a year. It is a fair and understandable question when people ask if we are secret millionaires or if we recently inherited some money. The answer to both of those questions is a firm, “no.” How we make our money is simple.

Website funds:
We make some money on our website, but to be honest we spend a lot of time and money on the site so we do only slightly better than break even on that. Some costs associated with the website include: the hosting fee ($250 for two years, roughly) our pro flickr account ($25 a year) and the amount of man hours put into developing and maintaining the site and the blog. We make money on the site by selling some ad space on the blog, which is unobtrusive and we are very particular about who we will allow to advertise on our site. We turn down some offers for cash in exchange for links simply because the products would not match our reader’s interests or have anything to do with traveling or quitting one’s job.

Income:
Lauren makes money as a writer. She has a few solid contracts that help her make enough money to travel full time as well as cover her college loan payments each month. Meanwhile, Mike was able to save more than half of his earned income in 2008, meaning he is living off his savings. Considering we both made less than $30,000 in 2008, it is possible to travel for cheap on savings if you don’t spend money on frivolous things, or live above one’s means.

Lifestyle:
One of the main ways we save money is to live well below your means. We do this by living overseas, where we don’t have cell phone costs, or outrageous cable and internet fees. We don’t have an overpriced apartment, car payments or insurance fees due each month. Essentially, the money we spend each month living abroad is the total of our food, transportation costs and apartment. We live like the locals do (lower-middle class locals) and save a bundle by avoiding expat eateries and entertainment. For a month in Shanghai we were spending a total of around $350 each, counting everything from random purchases to rent to food costs. If you make $20-25,000 a year and only spend $350 of that each month, you are looking at quite a savings over time.

Traveling versus Staying Home:
Meanwhile, traveling full time is cheap because your only costs are lodging, food and transportation. Often, people spend most of their travel money on lodging, we avoid this by camping whenever possible or staying at hostels for less than $15 a night. In Asia, we spent around $6 a night and that often included dinner. We spend, on average, around $6-700 a month traveling full time abroad. These costs are higher than would be necessary if one traveled more slowly. However, most of these funds went to train and bus tickets. When we were moving slowly we spent roughly $500 a month. For most Americans, that is far less than they spend a month living in an apartment or home with a dozen or so monthly costs.

For the 2010 Mongol Rally, we’ll be buying our car in the UK and then licensing and registering it to leave the country almost immediately. We’ll also have to accumulate a bunch of documentation to appease the sundry border guards along the 12 border crossings, and import documentation for bringing the car into Mongolia. For an American, these tasks are not without their challenges. Since we’ve done a bit of research and have a clear idea of what the steps to accomplish this are, we’ve decided to outline it here in the hopes of saving someone else a massive, British-accented headache.

Buying the Car. There are several locally recommended car dealerships in the UK that seem pretty legitimate, trusted and versatile. Check out Gumtree, and  Autotrader to get you started. London’s Craigslist is another interesting option, as is the London eBay.

Registering the Car. The first step is to make sure your seller fills out and gives you the V5 form. You then give this form to the DVLA (the British DMV). Like the American DMV, this one promises long lines, frequent delays, and excessive and seemingly redundant amounts of paperwork. Then the car is in your name. Yay!

You’ll also need something called a MOT certificate (Ministry of Transport) that shows your car meets the minimum standards for safety and environmental protection. The seller should ensure the car already has this, and it is passed on to you. Better to buy a car that already has it then deal with the hassle of getting your car tested yourself.

Insuring the Car. Apparently every country on the planet has different rules about what needs to be in your car, what shape your car needs to be, and how to insure it. For example, cars in France have to have high-viz gear and an emergency triangle in the car. One way to deal with this is to get a carnet for the car, but that costs money. Or, you can find out each country’s laws individually and attempt to meet them all. Regardless, you’ll be buying random crap to stuff in your trunk to appease border guards.

You’ll also have to have the car insured. Coverage for the EU rarely extends into Russia and the ‘sSans. Rumor has it that you have to buy insurance at the border for these countries anyway, whether insured by a UK or EU provider. Our plan is to get insurance that covers us in Europe, and buy insurance at the borders everywhere else. If anyone has a brighter plan, we’d literally love to hear it!

Exporting the Car. As a foreigner buying a used car in the UK intending to export it, you’ll need to fill out a form (big surprise) called the VAT410, which gives you tax exemption. You might need to check with HM Revenue and Custom’s to ensure you have the right form for what you want to do.

Importing the Car. Luckily for us and other Mongol Rally teams, the rally admin are dealing with this. If you are going solo, keep in mind that it takes about a month to get the required paperwork for importing a car into most countries. If you have any info on how to do this, let us know so we can share with the whole class!

Finally, the car is yours and you are legally covered to ride. Only problem is that your car now has the driver’s seat and wheel on the right-hand side.

And now the age old question of how to get from A to B. We’re headed from the USA to Europe, and one would think with our strong historical and economic ties that finding a way over the pond would not be such a hassle. Nevertheless, we’re finding it a bit of a pain to get from the East Coast of America to the West Coast of Europe without stepping foot in an airplane.

Booking Websites: There are literally hundreds of websites dedicated to helping you find amazing cruise deals, but they would not be in business if they were not making money off of the bookings. In general, we found the services to be almost useless. You could use your generic expedia or orbitz, but they rarely return any real deals, and pretty much just summarize what you’d find by doing the looking yourself.

It is amazing how the internet, which simply has not been around that long, has replaced an entire occupation– travel agents. I would adore calling someone on the phone and giving them my desired departure dates and a budget and seeing what they come up with. Essentially, websites like travelocity make their occupation futile and redundant and I find that sad because travel agents were such amazing people with their own personal experiences backing up their advice and bookings. I guess travel blogging and booking online are somewhat similar.

Cruises: Usually repositioning cruises take place in the spring or fall, when ships need to move between warm water in winter and active tourism ports in summer. That means taking a transatlantic in the middle of the summer will not leave a whole lot of options. For cruise companies, the money is in the Bahamas and Mediterranean. You can find more info on this amazing blog post about the top ten cruise blogs. You can also find some help on My Cruise News.

Airlines: So, if cruises cost too much, should we fly? Flying across the Atlantic isn’t exactly affordable either! Flights are running a mere $100 to $200 less than a 7 night, all inclusive cruise. That seems like a no brainer to me, considering the available R&R on the ship versus the tedium and stress of flying. Airlines are quickly making themselves an unaffordable product, lets hope alternatives like ship travel are increased to take up the slack! A quick tip- you can often find cheaper flights if you book through a European website rather than an American one.

Freighters: One of the innovative areas in travel that has taken up some of the slack is freighter travel. We’ve looked into this pretty extensively. You can go through several sites like the following: www.freighter-travel.com; www.freighterworld.com; and www.freighter-travel-review.com or try to find a freighter leaving by contacting your departure port. Most freighters can only take between 2-12 passengers and have age and health restrictions. The average cost is about $100 a day, and transatlantic crossings take a minimum of 9 days in most cases (making the cost nearly equivalent to cruising).  However, if you have the money and lots of time, you can see some exotic ports and have a relaxing and casual cruising experience.

So, thats the skinny on our options of getting from America to Europe. I’m still hoping Cunard will call me and offer me a free cruise for saying how wonderful they are. They are so wonderful, utterly delightful and fantastic. . . . . I’ll be waiting by the phone.

We get a lot of questions about how we manage different aspects of full-time travel. To answer them, we’ve put together a special Resources page on the website that will hopefully help people find out if they can Abandon their Cubicles, how to do it, where to get the things they need to do it successfully, and just some general information on traveling. We’re not claiming to be any authority on the topic, we’re just hoping to help! here’s what the new page covers:

Is It Feasible. The ‘should you?’ the ‘could you?’ and the ‘how to do’ of abandoning your cubicle. Whether you are thinking of a leave of absence to travel for a few weeks or months, or a full out Jerry Maguire storm out,t hen this will help you assess if now is the best time, and some of the things to consider before you flick off your boss.

Insurance. Lots of people need this to travel. Although we don’t personally have any travel insurance (yet) we’ve checked out some of the options and we have a few links posted that could maybe provide you with what you are looking for. Coverage for a short-term trip shouldn’t run you more than $250, so be wary of people who charge by the month or who promise you year-long coverage for less.

Visas. These little stamps can cost you big bucks, and be a royal pain. But thankfully there are some easy ways to tackle visas like nifty visa services. For some countries (Russia) you’ll have to use a service if you want it done right, fast and without hassle. For others you’re better off doing it alone. We give you some tips on the resources page, as well as at the bottom of every destination page.

Guides. Seasoned travelers always have their favorite guide books, and hardly ever deviate from those. We use a mix of our favorite guide book (which we won’t give a free promo here) and online sites like travel blogs for the area, or wikitravel. We have more info to be found about guides on the resources page!

Languages. The number one thing people ask us about is how we get around without speaking native languages. The answer is that we try really, really hard to learn. We do that with language guide books, i-touch programs, online sites and a lot more. Its important to us to try to talk to people in their native tongue, and we use a lot of different resources to try to achieve that aim.

Equipment. People get really excited about the equipment we use. We’ll meet someone on a camping trail and spend the first fifteen minutes talking supplies before we even get around to introductions. A good tent can make or break the whole trip, and everyone who travels full time has very strong, very serious views about cook stoves.

Expat and Teaching. Many people go overseas for a change of pace to look for an expat-style job or to teach English while they enjoy the local culture. We have some resources for you to do both, including how you can get your teaching certificate (which we did last year, just in case!).

Social Media & Staying Connected. We also listed some nifty travel websites, travel tools online, and ways to stay connected with your loved ones while on the road.

So, to see all that info and more, check out the new Resources page!

Abandon the Cube has been around since 2008. While we’re not into celebrating a massive birthday party for the website or the concept, we’re excited about reaffirming our travel philosophy and taking stock of where we are, where we’re going and what we’ve seen.

By Ground Travel. By now you’ve all learned that we like to travel primarily by ground transport. Any flight across open land or water leaves the earth beneath you undiscovered, which we find goes against the spirit of how we enjoy experiencing the world’s most unexpected places. Over the past two years we’ve formed this website of travel tips, destination guides, humorous pictures, influential travelers who have inspired us and more so that we could share what we see and hopefully encourage other people to abandon their cubicles and see some of the world’s least trodden paths.

Time as the ONLY vital factor. To date we have inspired no one to quit their job. People look at us with raised eyebrows and wonder why any sane person would throw away security and comfort in exchange for several meals a day made out of rice. To us, time is the one thing that can really be stolen from you while you are on this planet. Nevertheless, people still think that if you work hard now by the time you are 45 you’ll be able to retire. In reality, who has ever retired at 45? The plan simply doesn’t work. Meanwhile, you throw away the best time in your life working, stressing and acquiring status, money, security, etc… but you can’t get that time back. Its a trade off and an unfair one in our opinions. I’m personally willing to work longer in life rather than abusing the time I have now. They say youth is wasted on the young, but I’m hoping they won’t say that about us. The reality of the situation is that society is designed to ensnare people. Right out of High School you have either college loans to pay, or else housing so you are independent. Now you have a car payment, insurance, health costs, food, your cell phone and internet….. even if you wanted to quit your job you can’t because you have bills coming in. That’s the way it is designed, and to an extent that’s why the machine of our economy works. However, if you take away all the things that require you to have a job then you no longer are in need of one. I do some writing for money here and there and make enough to cover my college loans. Outside of that, traveling full time costs us less than any apartment would, and we pay for that with money we saved while working in Shanghai for a year. We were able to save so much because we did not have a car, cell phones are pay-as-you-go rather than a 2-year-death-contract and we choose an apartment that was extremely affordable (if not minuscule). We figured out a way to Abandon our Cubicles and still meet our obligations, and that makes me confident that you could figure that out as well.

Experiences are Everything. I suppose it goes without saying that we weigh experiences very highly. We signed up for the 2010 Mongol Rally, as you know, because we saw the experience as an amazing opportunity to meet new people, have a great and daring adventure and travel 1/3 of the earth’s surface by land. Planning is still underway and we launch July 26th from London. Experiences and relationships are so important, and we hope to have an amazing adventure meeting amazing people on the Rally. Likewise, we’re excited about the new experiences coming our way after the Rally when we backpack through South East Asia and hopefully land in Thailand for a while as a place to kind of rest for a while, look for a part time job and save up so we can have more adventures down the road.

Reflections on an Amazing Year. Its is easy for us to say that 2009 was one of the best years of our lives. We left Shanghai on May 1st, 2009 and traveled by land all the way to Seattle, USA by December. In that half a year we saw and did so many amazing things that we’re likely to always look back on 2009 with a whimsical smile. From visiting Kashgar in summer, to driving across Uzbekistan with a giant; from standing near a burning crater in Turkmenistan, to living in a tent in Turkey during Ramadan; from roughing it in a cheap Bulgarian hostel, to riding a luxury cruise ship through the Virgin Islands. We nearly circumnavigated the globe (minus only the Pacific Ocean aspect of returning to Shanghai). That is why 2009 was a rich, and beautiful year. We’re hoping that the 2010 Mongol Rally that takes us from Seattle (where we are now) to Thailand via land and sea is as enriching, enchanting and captivating as the adventures of ’09.

When ever you get to the point, if this actually happens, that you feel like there isn’t anything else you could do to top what you have already done, come look at our new page of Influential Adventurers and Explorers.  Lauren put together this list of some absolutely amazing trailblazers, some of whom are classic and some who are modern and not so well known, yet.  I want to take a moment to mention some of my personal favorites, but I urge you to check out our entire page which is complete with books and movies which were written about or by the explorer or adventurer.

Zheng He Painting

An ode to China, probably because of personal ties and interest in Chinese history – Zheng He.  There have been several books written about him recently and a lot of research about his accomplishments under the Yongle  Emperer.  He commanded a fleet of around 300 ships and over 20,000 men and possibly sailed as far as the Americas. See:  1421: The Year China Discovered America.  Moreover, he did all of this without his genitalia as he was a Eunuch.  Quite impressive if you ask me.

Zheng He and Christopher Columbus Ship Model

Not only was his fleet probably the largest of his time, the size of his ships was 10 times that of European mariners of his time period.   We were lucky to see Zheng He’s tomb in Nanjing when we visited in early 2008.  For connecting China to the rest of the world and bringing back cultures from every end of the known world, as the time, to the Emperor, Zheng He deserves a place on our list as a recently well known explorer.

In Expedition 360 Jason Lewis, a modern day adventurer, circumnavigated the globe by human power only – absolutely no engines at all.   He taught children while he traveled and raised money for charity along the way.  Hats off to such a brilliant accomplishment.  It is great to see people of our time still finding things that have not been done before and pursuing the impossible.  Jason wrote about some of his experiences in a book titled: Flightless: Incredible Journeys Without Leaving the Ground.

Benedict Allen

Benedict Allen is another personal favorite, and recently discovered adventurer of our times.  Instead of using all the fancy gadgets we have now, Allen has reverted back to the way of the original explorers in an almost necessary way.   His ability to leave his laptop and GPS behind deserves him a spot on our list.  Allen relies on embedding himself with indigenous people and learning their ways and culture and hoping they, and sometimes children, will take him in and teach him their ways.  He uses the skills they teach him to get through their terrain and survive in their environments as well as get him from A to B. Into the Abyss.

If you have any more influential and perhaps not so well known adventurers / explorers to add, please comment below and we will add them to our Influential Adventurers page on www.abandonthecube.com.

Into Cave Abyss

After a great two days in Eugene, we packed up the old trusty mini van once again and decided to hit the road and head south. With all four of us in the minivan, things were lively and the drive flew by quickly. We reached the creepy town of Cave Junction around 10pm and decided to see what these Oregon caves were all about. Mike ran into a terrifying-looking gas station to ask directions to the caves. They replied, “its near the greyback.” Mike nodded knowledgeably and ambled back to the van to report the directions. We sat in the van blinking at each other. “What’s a Greyback?”

After passing several casino games, we pulled into Cave Junction’s only hotel where a lady with 1980’s makeup and shoulder pads so large they hit her in the ears told us to head for the greyback to find a camping spot. She gave us a free local newspaper (aka, a tiny pamphlet of nothingness) and pointed up the road. “To the greyback!” We repeated her mantra back to her with a bit less gusto, “to the greyback?!” and made our way out the door.

Eventually, after a beer stop and a few more inquiries, we decided to just find out for ourselves what this mysterious greyback was. Twelve miles up a horribly-constructed road we found a campground and Mike ran past a “CLOSED” sign to inquire again. From deep in the woods a woman’s voiced yelled out, in true Goonies style, “We’re closed!” and then a dog began to bark very close by and Mike and his friend sprinted into the van. No help at the camp site. We drove back down the road and saw a lit phone booth. A mirage in the woods that seemed beyond creepy. I took a picture (yes, its on flickr, no it didn’t turn out very well because the car was bumping along a dirt road as I took it). It turned out the phone booth belonged to a man who ran a camp site. Score! He installed us in an RV lot for 16$ and we set about making a fire and cooking our dinner. Only after we finally figured out how to assemble the tent did we realize the rain cover was full of holes.

Mike and Lu in Oregon Caves

In the morning, the forest seemed only slightly less creepy. We packed up our camp site  after making some breakfast on what was left of the fire, and headed deeper into the woods to solve the mystery of the greyback. You just can’t stop for intrepid explorers eager for discovery.

The Oregon Caves system is a national monument. And we learned from our 90 minute tour of one of the caves that a monument is a presidential decree rather than an act of congress.  Hopefully that helps you down the road in bar trivia. Our national monument ranger wore the typical OD green suit and funny ranger hat, and talked to our group of adults like we were perhaps 6 or 7 years of age. She told us stories in a drawn out tone, and even called us kiddos. She led us deep into the heart of a cave, some 200m underground. It was a dark, creepy and yet beautiful experience. Unfortunately, in our attempt to preserve the cave someone cut it all up to put in cement floors, stainless steel stairs, railings, ramps, lighting, cables for lighting and emergency exits. Its really not much of a natural thing anymore, its more like a movie set on Batman. My hypothesis– if humans find it, its screwed.

Nevertheless, we enjoyed the tour through tiny, musty cave rooms that looked very strangely like our first apartment in China. We scaled up and down slippery steps, around hanging stalactites and over pointy stalagmites. We even had to duck once. Eventually we left the caves without interacting with any live nature, and we drove back through Cave Junction (still creepy in daylight) and onwards towards California. While we never did learn what a greyback was, some mysteries are better left unsolved.

We packed up the minivan and decided to head south to see two longtime friends and adventurous souls who live in Eugene, OR. The drive was pleasant down ol’ I-5, and we arrived made great time without incident until we got to the lovely and illogically grid-like, one-way nightmare of downtown Eugene. We thanked Map Quest for their incorrect instructions and, without cell phones, decided to head towards the only hill in the city for a better look. Turns out that was the hill they lived on. Problemo solved.

The following morning, after an informative and retro night on the town,we ventured to a local hot spot, Off the Waffle, for some breakfast. A nice treat there, and then a quick peek at a vintage book store where I found a rare book on exploring Central Asia for herbs, before we decided to hike to the top of Eugene’s hill for a better look. As Mike was backing up the trusty Toyota, there was a bit of a mishap that doesn’t bear retelling. Suffice to say Mike can never make fun of how I drive again. Ever! Score! This was the best accident of all time, in my book.

Area Around Eugene

Eugene is a very unique city. In our limited time there we saw that very few large corporations have penetrated into the city’s center. Anti-expansion laws have made property prices skyrocket, but there are no suburbs full of Wal-Marts or Home Depots either. Independent restaurants and cafes dot the city, and the uniqueness is almost overwhelming at first. Americans seem to like arriving in a new town and having it look almost identical to the town they left. McDonald’s, Walgreen’s, Target…. all of these places are lined up on consumer alley (or main street) in almost every American town of any size. Eugene is a breath of fresh air and shows what America could look like if it wanted to. It reminded me of why I disliked traveling in the USA– every time you arrive somewhere new you feel like you haven’t left home yet.

While traveling to Eugene made me aware of all of this, it was also pleasantly different, and we spent a few days soaking that in. The higher prices were well worth it to try so many new things. By the way, at an independent grocery store I found out there are literally thousands of different kinds of cereal. Turns out if you shop at a name-brand store they get to decide your menu for you. And here I thought all along there were only a few kinds! Silly me. Eugene’s independent grocery store had two isles of bulk cereals. You take as much as you want, mix and match, add accompaniments, and you’re off! Don’t get me started on how many kinds of juice there are. I did not think you could find lychee juice outside of China. Anyways, suffice to say we liked Eugene.

We (Mike and Lauren) are happy to announce that we have a new team member who will join us for the 2010 Mongol Rally!  We asked Bill to write up a little announcement and some information about himself for our site.  We have also posted some information about him on our Mongol Rally Sponsorship page.

Bill (Verbatim from Email):

Bill and his Motorcycle

I am from the deep South; Huntsville, AL to be exact.  Up until the age of 23, I never really left the country (the border towns in Canada and Mexico not really counting).  But then with my job as a mechanical engineer with a pulp and paper equipment design company, I started leaving the country and visiting far off locations, a lot of the time, on my own.  This is when the travel bug really bit hard.  I had always liked the idea of going new places; I went 1000miles away from home for college at RIT in Rochester, NY.And I was always going on road trips and traveling around with my buddies in high school.  But I never knew how much fun experiencing other cultures in other countries could be.  Also, the challenge and adventure of figuring out a new place and exploring…sans guidebook…is exciting.  It’s almost like being a secret agent.  Especially when I get phone calls in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning asking me to run out to China or Brazil or Russia, or any other number of countries on just a few hours notice.  Which is what my job entails now.  Now I’m a a mechanical engineering consultant that specializes in supervising the erection, commissioning, and startup of mill equipment.

So all I do now is travel for work, and luckily my wife Jacqui works through the internet so she travels with me the majority of the time.  The only problem is that for work, I end up going to a lot of the same places over and over again and only get to see a new place occasionally, so I need vacations like this where everything is different and there is constant movement.  As my wife says, I don’t relax well…

I try to live life by the mantra “Nobody says you have to order an entree in the restaurant of life, you’ll only be here once! Order the sampler, try as many as you can before you’re full; odds are one of the items on this menu does more for you than you ever thought. And if I’m wrong, tell the waiter that his menu sucks, throw the cook aside and invent your own masterpiece. Just pour ’em all in, all your favorite ingredients. With enough imagination, any combination will work — there are no recipes for the paths still awaiting discovery.”

We are very happy to have him on our team.  Thanks Bill and welcome to Abandon the Cube and the 2010 Mongol Rally.  See you in London!

Here we go! Just the FACTS about why the West Coast is literally a billion times cooler than the East Coast:

1) Movies about the West Coast are usually uplifting, fun and feature scantly clad youths frolicking along the beaches. Movies about the East Coast usually highlight a primary character who has turned selfish and egotistical while striving for some sort of monetary or business related goal.

2) The East Coast has a rich history that includes the earliest days of America’s past. Meanwhile, the West Coast is still wild, untamed and rugged– so are the people who live north of California. People like D.B Cooper and Kurt Cobain.

3) The West Coast produces way better music. Now that’s just a fact.

4) The West Coast, if you get rid of California, is full of people who love the environment. There are ample forests, of the evergreen and rain varieties, as well as untamed beaches, rugged mountain peaks and even ferns that grow out of tree branches. The East Coast has Krispy Kreame.

5) The West Coast has Hollywood. The East Coast has Disney World.

6) The West Coast had the gold rush. The East Coast had a tea party.

7) The West Coast has vampires and werewolves, the East Coast has Pennsylvania Avenue.

8.) The West Coast has the King crab, and salmon. The East Coast has lobster– nature’s ugliest creature.

9) The West Coast has the leading ocean. Now for those non-geologists that’s a plate tectonic joke.

10) You never hear people talk about the dream of moving out East. Our nation’s manifest destiny was literally driven by people moving to the West Coast.

With the exception of Chicago, the entire non-coastal USA is literally just a highway to and from the coasts.

Traveling is a great way to learn. Every new city visited is a deeper insight into the region’s past and why it developed as it did. We traveled from Shanghai to Seattle by land and sea, and all the while reading. While the books did not always reflect the location we were in, they were insightful in different ways along our journey and helped to paint a more clear picture of the past, and explain why some areas we visited were in poverty and others in plenty. History is the only real explanation for how diverse and varied our species is, and its an amazing story more fascinating than fiction.

COVER

A Peace to End All Peace, by David Fromkin. This telling Pulitzer price book finalist tells of the causes of World War I (on the Eastern front between 1914 and 1922) and how the policies before, during and after the conflict have resulted in the most tumultuous area on the planet– the Middle East. The book begins with a young Winston Churchill visiting the Bosporus and concluding that any army hoping to take the Ottoman Empire would only have to control the Aegean. This thought came to fruition later in Churchill’s life as he sent British troops during WWI up the straights in a failed attempt to destroy the Ottoman Empire and end the war. It is shocking how daringly close the plan came to success. The war rages on and the Ottoman Empire collapses, and is ruled eventually by Ataturk (Mustafa Kemal). They gain in power and reinforce the German’s advances, further prolonging the war on all fronts. Eventually the dust settles to reveal the Central Powers have been defeated, but what is less commonly known is that each government in the Allied Powers Alliance has fallen and their internal opposition parties came to power. Essentially, those who began the war were replaced in all cases except Germany, and the mission and goals of the war changed dramatically as a result of new voices in the arena post fighting. Thus, new faces sat around the table deciding how to divide winnings and the states of Iraq, Iran, Jordan and Lebanon were formed, and the Israeli homeland question was raised. The Allied Powers promised a homeland to the Israelites and set about making it happen, not knowing the cultural and religious currents they would stir in so doing with neighboring Arabs. This book explains the root causes of the Israeli – Palestinian conflict, as well as why modern Turkey is so different from other Muslim countries. This book does not touch on the wars in Iraq (Desert Storm of Operation Iraqi Freedom) or 9/11 or Afghanistan.

Guests of the Ayatollah, by Mark Bowden. This book about the Iran Hostage Crisis read like an adventure novel, but was in fact very well researched. Bowden interviewed countless survivors, read everything he could get his hands on about the Iranian student’s movements, and fully explains the reasons why Muslims dislike Americans. For an American, this book is almost a must-read simply because Bowden is able to get inside the minds of the students who took the American Embassy hostage, and reveals their motives, desires and, years later, what happened to these children. His subtitle is: “The First Battle in the West’s War with Militant Islam,” and Bowden explains why the hostage crisis was a precursor to events that transpired later between the Muslims and the West, and why westerners often fail to fully grasp the rationale and motivations of those militant Muslims in places like Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.

These are just two examples. Other historical books we’ve read and would happily and confidently recommend to any history or travel buff are : Foreign Devils on the Silk Road, by Peter Hopkirk; Afghanistan, by Stephen Tanner; and Charlie Wilson’s War, by George Crile. If it seems all these books represent a trend, then you are an astute reader my friend. We’ve been traveling through predominately Muslim countries, and our books of choice reflect a desire to better understand the historical context of our culture clashes. We are historians, so naturally our interest in understanding the present lead us to the past. At any rate, all of these books were also page-turners that we think almost anyone could easily enjoy.

Not many people make backtracks like we do! To make my point, our trips inside America in the last several months

Route map?

have been hectic, repetitive and somewhat ridiculous. Just look at that map! We landed on the east coast, managed to make it to Illinois, only to jump to New Hampshire and Washington, back to Illinois, then to Texas, back to Illinois, then to Washington again. make any sense to you? Yeah, us neither. And we did it ALL by land only, no air travel. If you ever want to hear our opinion of Amtrak or the Great American Road System, pleas ask. We’d be happy to monologue for you, and since Mike plays the guitar, he can even do it to song, if that’s your preference.

I have to confess, a huge portion of America has been neglected in our ridiculous travels, and that area is boring– which is why we didn’t go there (California, Oregon and parts of Nevada exempted). I’d love to see the Grand Canyon, but they located it in the middle of nowhere, so until they get some interesting side attractions out there we’ll be sticking to the more densely populated areas.

One of the amazing things about ground travel in the USA is the gas prices. It can be high in, say, Seattle and low in DC. Explain this to me, someone please? Why do the people along the coasts, where oil is delivered, often pay more?  Isn’t Canada our biggest oil supplier? Why do northern states pay more than southern ones? Check out this map of gas prices in the USA– see a trend?

Another thing that surprised me was the tax rates in various states we traveled through. Texas, for example, had an 8% sales tax rate while Arkansas was 9% and Missouri was 7%.  Property taxes is not taxed, but everything else is. Washington has a $9.00 minimum wage while Wyoming gets a mere $5.15 an hour. Some states don’t even have minimum wage standards. Emma Goldman would be sad.

Nevertheless, the trip was amazing. I’ve never seen so many MAC trucks! Ya know, America, a railway system might solve the over-congestion of the roads. I’ve also never seen so many fast food restaurants. You see a lot of interesting folks in sweat pants at the McDonald’s, or rummaging in the trash at various rest stops. We even saw one man get out of the driver’s seat of his RAM truck and finish his beer then toss it in the trash before peeing in the grass NEXT TO the bathrooms. Also, at any given interstate gas station you’ll find a plethora of items for sale that no one would, or has ever bought. Like neon pink mud flaps with a naked woman outline on them. And the gas station check-out guy is always eating or spitting sunflower seeds while you try to check out.

So, the cross-country ridiculousness went well, and we’re in Washington now. believe it or not we’ll be heading back to the Midwest soon enough– enhancing the backtrack.

Cover Art

This is the only book written about the Mongol Rally. As many of you know, we are participating in this 10,000 mile adventure across Europe and Asia this summer, so naturally we wanted to size up what the forerunners have done in this amazing race. Rising / Falling – Always Hoping offered invaluable insight into the inter-workings of a team undertaking the rally.

The book begins with the author and his friend solving the plethora of problems they encountered in registering their car, finding visas and making their ancient car ready to hit the road. Nevertheless, their team encountered an unnatural amount of problems on their route from the UK to Mongolia.

Throughout the race, their team had several breakdowns with their tiny car. It seemed 90% of the book was taken up with the team dealing with their failing auto. At one point they were left with no options on fixing the car, no parts, and no help in the middle of Kazakhstan where they had finally laid waste. In the end, the team was forced to abandon the race and just hope to find someone to haul their dead car into Mongolia. They succeeded in dragging the dead machine to Ulaan Bataar, only to discover that the finale they were hoping for did not exist. They simply left the wreaked vehicle in the appropriate parking lot, and had a Genghis Khan beer and then shrugged and flew back to the UK.

It was a bit depressing to read this tale of wonder and woe, simply because the author’s team had experienced such hardship on the route that it seemed they were not ever enjoying themselves, and always working overtime to achieve a goal that, in the end, was a let down. Nevertheless, the author proclaims the joys of the road only after completing the rally and returning home.

Recently, I’ve taken the Empire Builder from start to finish a total of three times, that’s around 6,600 miles!

Traveling by train is an activity that requires great patience, but if you are looking in the right direction you’ll see much of what America is renowned for without getting out of your seat. The major cities of Chicago, Minneapolis and Seattle lie along the route, as do the amber waves of grain. Purple mountains of majesty sit majestically in the background while the fruited plains of Washington pass by. Rocky rivers, waterfalls and lakes all flash past the Amtrak window. As I sit on the train I have full visibility of the sky above, the massive expanse of land out my window, and the knowledge that those flying overhead above me are sorely missing out. It takes roughly 48 hours to cross the Empire Builder, and in the time you’ll witness a sunrise and a sunset (probably both in Montana) with snowy grasslands spotted in geese, or farmers plowing their fields and pausing to pet their trusty Labrador. If you are not in a hurry, and you can appreciate the little things in life, than you’ll appreciate a trip through the heartland by rail.

When I tell people I take the train across America, I’m usually met with laughter or a Bill-Clinton-like sad smile and a sympathetic, “I’m Sorry!” This rubbed off on me a bit, I’ll admit, and I was not looking forward to my third, 48-hour journey in as many months on Amtrak. After boarding my car, however, it took no time at all for me to be refreshed with the excitement of travel and the amazing views of the Mid- and Northwest. Between Milwaukee and nowhere-town North Dakota I sat next to a US Air Force officer who had been stationed in Korea for the past several years. He had driven his car to St. Louis to be shipped to his next duty station and was returning to his family in North Dakota to pack up his modest home and move to Alaska. This gentleman regaled me with stories of life in Korea, and even flipped open his laptop and gave me a military-style briefing on the DMZ (demilitarized zone along the 38th parallel). Two months ago on a previous Empire Builder experience I sat next to a woman from the Dakotas whose husband has recently passed away. She was visiting her daughter in Seattle after the funeral and talked to me about what a wonderful man her postal-service husband had been, and what she would do now that she was alone (teach Opera appreciation at her local college). Even further back, I met a girl who had been in prison for assault, only recently released and heading home—I can’t say that was a meaningful experience for me, but it was a part of America I had not seen before. Encounters with people on Amtrak are not always easy, but they are always memorable and for the most part these movable parades are a cross section of society that few get to really appreciate.

As we pulled into Seattle, where the tracks follow the sound so you have a mist-covered view of the water with mountains in the background, a bald eagle emerged from the mist and flew alongside the train. You’ll not find anything as mystical and beautiful as that from a tiny airline window.

Although still listed as the 14th most undesirable place to live because of the crime and unemployment, I’ve been lucky enough to come home for a couple weeks and catch up with friends and family. That has really been the best part about it. There are really some good people here and that is hard to come by in all the places we’ve been. Even though the weather is beautiful today, most activities and venues in Rockford are shut down for Winter. However, I want to take this opportunity to go through some of the awesome things to do in Rockford and a couple of interesting facts…or at least ones that I find interesting.

Making CiderEdward's Apple Orchard

Edward’s Apple Orchard

This place is just simply the best and has been for as long as I can remember. Crowds flock in from Chicago and all over the region to see Edwards Apple Orchard in Fall. I surprising could not find their website, however this is a must do in the Fall. Technically in Poplar Grove, every year thousands of people drive out of the city down country roads to visit this once quaint orchard farm. Over the years it has grown into a huge barn converted into a store with great Mid-West and country style goods that you can’t find anywhere else, tons of apples in baskets to choose from, and phenomenal apple cider. And the kicker – Edward’s Apple Orchard donuts! These sugar coated donuts are home-made right in front of you at the orchard and melt in your mouth. These are such a phenomenon here, I have even seen Orchard donut wedding cakes.  It is a great place to take your kids, as they have a free petting zoo, and another building full of country antiques. If that’s not enough, you can go downstairs and order cider by the cup, a single donuts, or anything else the place has to offer.

Midway Village Water Wheel

Midway Village

The forgotten museum of Rockford, I grew up about a mile away from this place.  As dorky as it may be, I used to volunteer out there during all of their events.  It started out as a ministry required volunteer program I had to do for school and then I just never quit.  I got all dressed up in some mid 1800’s gear and went down to the printing press and made people their name while showing them how movable type works, which was a great experience because my Great Grandfather owned the local newspaper in Comfrey, Minnesota.  I would also give them a tour of the hardware store where I memorized every detail about each item in the store.  This place was amazing during the Civil War Reenactments and Wild West Days.  These are of my fondest childhood memories and it is sad to see it not in use or busy on the weekends.  It seems as though they don’t have enough volunteers working there to have any of buildings open.  I think it is quite an experience walking through what appears to be a small pioneer town of the good ol’ days.

On The Waterfront

Crowd at Davis Park

The music festival of my youth.  We couldn’t go through a Summer without trying to spend almost every night down by the river for this monumental event for Rockford.  Tons of people come out for this several-day-long music festival.  I saw my first concert here, although I am too embarrassed to tell you who it was.  Regardless, Rockford brings in a lot of great bands for this event and everyone comes downtown to check it out.  Summer is the time to be in Rockford as there are just tons of things going on.  They have over 5 stages set up, probably more now, to suit everyone’s’ musical tastes.  From Steve Miller Band, to Cold or Powerman 5000, to Bobby Vee from my parents generation, they have all genres.

Historic Auto Attractions

I just heard about this recently from some friends and although I have not been here yet, it looks amazing.  This is actually in Roscoe, just outside of Rockford, Illinois.  Going through their website is pretty amazing.  It simply must be one of the best private car collections in the United States.  I am not going to load an image because you simply just need to see their website (click above on ‘Historic Auto Attractions’).  They have wax representations of tons of historic figures, most wearing authentic garb, a superman (wearing the actual costume from Superman 1), Bonnie & Clyde’s death hats, John Dillinger’s 1932 Studebaker… the list goes on and on.  Absolutely amazing.

Japanese Gardens

Anderson Gardens

From what I have been told, Anderson Gardens has been rated the best Japanese garden in all of North America, a pretty amazing accomplishment.  I drove by the gardens literally every day on my way to high school.  This is pretty typical for people of their home town, but I have never been here.  I’m planning on it this Spring though.  I am trying to view my trip home as part of our extended journey and am trying to see all the tourist stuff you miss out on in your own town.  They also have a pretty nice restaurant located on the grounds from what I understand but the menu does not have any prices … yes it’s one of those.  Probably something for the budget traveler to avoid (the restaurant only I mean) as I’ve fallen victim to that scam all over Central Asia.  I don’t want to be that guy who asks how much everything on the menu is…it is simply habit for me now after traveling for too long.

Rock Cut State Park

Rock Cut State Park

I try to drive or hike through the park in the Fall because it really is beautiful.  During the Summer I used to go down to the water, just slightly off of the right of this picture, and go fishing.  My buddy Matt, who met us in Ankara, Turkey earlier this year, and I caught a ton of small bass and blue gill just off the shore.  We would bring some food to grill out as well.  It always made for a perfect Summer day when I was younger and I highly recommend a trip out for the whole family.  Your bound to catch something, albeit not very big, if you throw a line in.  Rarely did I ever go home not having caught something.  There is even a bait shop and a place to pick up some equipment in the middle of the park.  Moreover, a great camp ground for tents and RVs is on the other side of the lake.

There are a lot of things I am leaving out, please feel free to add them in the comments and keep the list going – for all of you Rockfordians who want to prove that Rockford really isn’t as bad as the magazines state.  First one I left out that comes to mind already is Magic Waters!  The name says it all.

The Alamo

Remember the Alamo! This saying had little meaning to me until recently, when we visited the Alamo in San Antoino, TX. This was a prime turning point in the battle between non-Mexican residents of Mexico and the Mexican government that ultimately resulted in the independent Republic of Texas (recognized by the US government, but not by the Mexican one). The annexation of Texas, as it would later become, was one of the primary reasons for the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848 which ultimately resulted in the USA winning, by battle and purse, over 50% of Mexican soil and landing the entire southern portion of modern-day America, including the gold found the following year in California.

Having visited Palo Alto, a battle where the Mexican army was turned away due to superior American military equipment, seeing the Alamo, where the Mexican army used sheer numbers to overwhelm a fortified mission, was in stark contrast. Ill-equipped Texans defended the mission they had only recently won themselves by battle, and held out for 13 days with nearly all 182-250 defenders lost, including the famous Davy Crockett, and James Bowie. The Mexican Army spared the women and children hiding in the mission.

One shocking event, though there were many in this troubled time, was the Mier Expedition of  1842.  Santa Anna continued to attack Texas after the treaty of Velasco (where Texas became an independent republic.) in hopes of gaining back Mexican territory.  On one event 500 Mexican troops attacked and killed 54 Texans in the Dawson Massacre. Texans responded by counter attacking with their militia in the Somervell Expedition. After retaking the lost land, the Texans were disbanded, all but a few captains and their men went home.  Those Texans camped on the Texan side of the Rio Grande. They were ordered to pull back by Somervell, who knew that they had no serious Texan force to defend against a real attack, but the rogue captains did not, unaware that some 3,000 Mexican troops were in the area. The small party of 261 soldiers were met by the full force of Santa Anna’s army, and surrendered after heavy fighting. They were marched to Matamoros for punishment but 181 of them escaped, with 176 being recaptured. To punish them for the deaths they caused in their escape attempt, Santa Anna declared that every 10th man be executed. He initiated the ‘Black Bean Lottery’ where a jar of 159 white beans and 17 black ones was passed around, with each man drawing his own fate. Those who drew the black bean were executed the following day. Those who survived either died later or were released in 1844, along with a few survivors of the Dawson Massacre. This episode, like many in the Texan Independence War and the Mexican-American War, are largely unknown while the Alamo remains a rallying cry and historical strong point in Texan stubbornness and fortitude.

For more information on the Alamo, visit their official website.

Palo Alto Battlefield

If you live or vacation in Southern – Central Texas, this is especially important to all the winter Texans, take a short drive North of Brownsville to visit the Palo Alto Battlefield.  Easy to find and only taking an hour or so see, the Palo Alto Museum was a refreshing overview of sometimes forgotten American, and Mexican, history.  The quaint museum displays artifacts from the battlefield as well as detailed information regarding political debate on the subject before, during, and after the war.  There are uniforms, guns, cannon balls, maps, and pictures, but if you museumed’ out, you can watch the PBS video on the battle of Palo Alto, which gives a great overview of the battle as well as the museum.

The museum argued that the first battle of the Mexican – American War (Palo Alto) was provoked by President Polk, who had his mind set on the acquisition and extension of the United States to the Western seaboard.  According to what we saw at the Palo Alto Museum, after skirmishes and heated debate over Texas, the United States, and the Mexican border was ongoing in congress.  Polk himself declared the Rio Grand as the border, although it was not recognized as the official border by either side.  When Mexican General Mariano Arista crossed the river with his 3,400 troops, it was portrayed as an invasion by Polk politicians and Zachary Taylor, sent by President Polk earlier to further stir up Mexican fear of a U.S. invasion, moved towards ‘Fort Texas.’  The front line, still visible today, stretched over one mile.  The terrain made any type of charge suicide so Taylor used new artillery tactics called ‘flying artillery’ to fire once and relocate the artillery to fire against any flanking attempts by the enemy.  The U.S. was unaware of their artillery’s devastation until morning when they discovered that General Arista had pulled out and left over 100 casualties behind in the field.   The American artillery used newer explosive cannon balls which shot shards of shrapnel all around the impact area.  The Mexican army, on the other hand, used older (non- impact – explosive) weapons and artillery.

General Taylor was ordered to push forward and invaded Fort Brown (modern day Brownsville) and Matamoros before pushing deep into Mexican territory, eventually all the way to Mexico city.  In two short years, Polk had negotiated the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo with Mexico in which Mexico lost over half its land to the United States and the US pushed its borders down to the Rio Grand in Texas as well as purchased what is now California, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah for 15 million USD (about 370 million in 2009).  You can walk through the snake infested trails of Palo Alto in amazement at the epicenter of what would eventually lead to the the largest expansion of the United States since the Louisiana Purchase.  A highly worthwhile and recommended visit for anyone who appreciates history, especially the less well known aspects.

Texan Rose

Texas! The only state in the union that considers becoming its own country on a daily basis and was an independent nation from 1836 to 1845. Texas! Known for the highest number of executions per year. A place so exciting and fast paced it took the armadillo as its state animal. Texas! The lone star state, a word that means “friendship” but a people at odds with both the north and the south. Ah, Texas. There is no other place in the union where history is so alive, so fierce that ‘death by cowboy’ is still considered a legitimate fear. The politics are ripe and raw, the people are hardy and tough, and the sun beats down upon more people in Houston and San Antonio than in 31 other states. So, what did we northerners think of our 6 week stay in the Lone Star State? — I’m glad you asked:

Texans are a tough breed. The ones we met were rough and ready to deliver their political, religious and musical opinions without instigation, and we’re about as willing to listed to the northern view as a child is willing to listen to the news. But, despite their hotheadedness, they were a friendly and approachable people- despite the truck bed gun racks and camouflage clothing. Although we have games like “Big Buck Hunter” in the bars up north, there was nothing of that sort down in Texas. Instead, bar goes serenade each other with karaoke or play a charming game of shuffle board. No, they are not big hunters, they raise cattle instead, proving that brains outdo brawn any day. While the northerner is off hunting in the snow, the southerner is playing shuffle board at the bar while his steers make him millions. And if cattle isn’t the occupation of choice, then oil is. More readily available than water, in places, oil is the Lone Star’s liquid of choice.

Color!

What about the wildlife, the countryside, the great outdoors? Glad you asked. There is more than enough land in Texas to go around. Don’t ever worry that America will become to congested– it wont. There is land in Texas even the Texans don’t know what to do with.  Things are so spread out, that without a car (or horse) it is nearly impossible to get around. Even in the cities there is a certain amount of space between structures that says, “hey, this here is my land, buddy. Get your own!” And, if you wanted your own land, it is available for sale in Texas and teaming with wildlife like hawks, lizards, strange pig-gazelle looking creatures and more. None of which us northerners have seen in the wild before and consider strangely comical when seen from a car window.

Having visited much of the USA, it is fair to say that Texas does indeed have something special. For the independent hermit or outspoken don Quixote, this is the place to be. Austin has great live music and cosmopolitan flare, Houston has NASA (and Billy Bob Thorton) and San Antonio has the Alamo- possibly America’s most famous underdog story.

Progreso

Having visited Progreso several times this winter, and Matamoros only once, it is safe to say I’m a bit skewed towards the former destination. Nevertheless, I have rational reasons for enjoying Progreso more than Matamoros. For anyone living along the East Coast of Texas, this will be vital information for you if you are planning on visiting Mexico anytime soon, for everyone else, its a bit of a tale of our visit to Matamoros, where days later there was a shoot out and US customs confiscated several pounds of illicit drugs.

Matamoros inspires looks of fear and awe in Winter Texans, who for so long have heard horror stories of drug deals, border wars and shoot outs occurring at this crossing. Call it naivety, but we wanted to check out the city and see what the market had to offer. We drove to the border and parked the car on the US side before walking gaily across the bridge into Mexico. As soon as we stepped on foreign soil we heard an old familiar sound– taxi drivers whispering discount promises in one ear and steering you quickly towards his patched up vehicle. We saw chickens and other farm life wandering around aimlessly in tiny, makeshift pens, and we saw several people looking at us with disbelief. It seemed more like our recent trip to Uzbekistan, than across a mere 100 yard river from America.

We held up our printed map of Matamoros and decided to walk to the market, a 2 mile stroll following the train tracks before veering into a slum that jetted into the market and bazaar area. Along the walk, people paused to give us strange looks or point the way to the market and shake their head. Perhaps our tiny group of American should not have been there, but hey– we made it through Azerbaijan without incident, why not Mexico?

Matamoros

Finally at the market, we didn’t see a single other American. A mile long street of tiny shops selling Chinese-made shoes, clothes and plastic flowers stretched before us, and we perused the items, snapping pictures, looking at our map frequently, and generally playing the role of retarded tourist quite well. On the walk back to the border, a cab drive hollared out his window, “50 cents a person!” and we jumped in without a second thought. He chatted kindly with us in broken English while we sat bashful and ashamed that we didn’t already speak Spanish. We walked back across the border and the dichotomy was so shocking that suddenly people risking their lives to swim across the river made sense. Hell, I’d do it if I lived in Matamoros.

Progreso, on the other hand, is a town made for tourists. After you park on the US side, you walk across a wheel-chair friendly bridge to Mexico, where several tanks and armed guards keep watch. The streets are lined with liquor shops, souvenir shops, bars and restaurants, as well as cheap dentists and optometrists. We did not encounter a single other tourist under the age of sixty, and the elderly retirees and snow birds were having an amazing time getting drunk on cheap margaritas, dancing to polka and buying up hand-woven baskets and rugs. Its a great place to visit if you want two mustachioed men to play mariachi music to you while simultaneously chugging beer.