NOT MY HOMETOWN: dear america

brianlux

catefrances wrote:

passport.. check
flights booked... check

13 days and i am outta here.

Cool! Looking forward to Travels With Catefrancis, Pt. II

catefrances

bands i miss seeing cause ill be o/s:

city and colour

calling all cars

dEUS. this will be their first tour of oz and im so very disappointed i wont get to see them. highly unlikely ill get the chance again.

anti flag

dead letter circus

the butterfly effect... this one is gonna be really missed. they lst toured in october when i was in the US. i know what i missed and it still pains me to know i wasnt there. then it was announced their lead singer was leaving the band and this may tour was a farewell tour of sorts for him. personally i think without him its not the butterfly effect and i know i wont see them again because of his absence.


brianjonestown massacre

he.who.forgets

THat sucks you'll be missing those gigs...definitely a few in there I'd love to see. Soooo, with Mr. Vedder's cancellations, have your plans changed drastically? Still coming through the Jax/St. Aug area?

catefrances

he.who.forgets wrote:

THat sucks you'll be missing those gigs...definitely a few in there I'd love to see. Soooo, with Mr. Vedder's cancellations, have your plans changed drastically? Still coming through the Jax/St. Aug area?

not drastically changed but florida is out. :( but it opens up me being able to check out the warhol museum in pittsburgh if i can get motivated.

catefrances

ESTA... check
train ticket... check
mark lanegan ticket... check

8 days to go.

catefrances

this time next week(its around 8am AEST saturday morning) ill be somewhere near the new mexico/arizona border. EXCITEMENT!!!!!

mickeyrat

catefrances wrote:

this time next week(its around 8am AEST saturday morning) ill be somewhere near the new mexico/arizona border. EXCITEMENT!!!!!

is this where you fly into the country?

catefrances

no. i fly into LAX. and then im training it. thanx to eddies postponement i wont have to greyhound anywhere.

mickeyrat

catefrances wrote:

no. i fly into LAX. and then im training it. thanx to eddies postponement i wont have to greyhound anywhere.

Awesome for you. I hear the train affords views you cant get by interstate. Hope you have a blast. Oh, bring lots of money. BAR CAR!!!!!!

81

when do you hit chicago?

we could have a rare 20K club photo op

catefrances

81 wrote:

when do you hit chicago?

we could have a rare 20K club photo op

im seeing mark lanegan at the metro on the 17th.

woowoo!! 4 days to go.

catefrances

VANS and heaps of lemonheads... thats what the kids have asked me to bring back.

mickeyrat

catefrances wrote:

VANS and heaps of lemonheads... thats what the kids have asked me to bring back.

too expensive to order the Vans online? Just curious. Or are there certain "USA only " styles they have?

Who wouldnt want a bunch of lemonheads!!!!!

Black Diamond

81 wrote:

when do you hit chicago?

we could have a rare 20K club photo op

You two are my holy grail

catefrances

mickey,
VANS are nearly $100 here.


oh and BD,

good luck with your quest.

mickeyrat

catefrances wrote:

mickey,
VANS are nearly $100 here.


oh and BD,

good luck with your quest.

:shock: Fuck that. Hell in the future , your kids want em again, shoot me a PM with their sizes and desired styles and I'll get them and ship them. You can paypal me once they're shipped.

gimmesometruth27

.....

81

Black Diamond wrote:

81 wrote:

when do you hit chicago?

we could have a rare 20K club photo op

You two are my holy grail

catefrances

waiting waiting waiting at LAs beautiful union station. wheres the train? no body knew and no amtrak employee could tell us... anything.. aside from the train hasnt left the sheds yet. well duh! we all know that cause an hour after its departure time were still waiting waiting waiting. now as a frequent traveller on public transport i usually take delays in my stride. theres not much you can do about them and it usually works out in the end. this time however my concern was being at kansas city for my transfer. what happens if our train is late? will they hold the connection? are there alternate arrangements if they dont? i know they try to make up time and i was somewhat counting on that getting us to KC not too late for them to hold the connection. so we stop at albuquerque for longer than expected and i can see time dwindling away... then as we appraoch raton NM were informed that this is be a quck 5 minute stop so DO NOT wander away from the train cause it will leave without you. as we cruise to a stop in raton, i notice 3 state police cars in the car park... and as im sitting there pretending were in colorado, 3 state police officers walk towards the pointy end of the train. i figure this will NOT be a 5 minute stop. close to 20 minutes later we leave raton.

all hope of making the connection in KC fade to nought. as we roll through the lovely state of kansas the voice above informs us that the connection at KC will not wait cause we are too far late. and lets face it it wouldnt be fair to the passengers on that train who aslo have connections to make in st louis. so it looks like we will have to wait for the 4pm train. as it turms out thatll be a wait of around 6 and a half hours. how exciting i think. :roll: but wait theres more... then were informed that amtrak will provide a bus for us to get to st louis. oh good i think.. at least that means getting to st louis in the afternoon and not the night. so thats good, right? sure it is.. except the bus isnt waiting for us when the train arrives.. nooo thatd be too efficient wouldnt it? im not sure how long we waited for the bus to arrive but in the scheme of things, it wasnt too long. im sure it was less than an hour.

in the end after seeing a prime mover burnt all the way down to its wheels and the miles long traffic jam extending eastward along route 70 i get into st louis about an hour and half later than i wouldve had we made the connection in KC.

81

when running on the amtrak time table....it's best to know...it's a recommended schedule.

did you get the junior suite at the hyatt in St Louis?

catefrances

81 wrote:

when running on the amtrak time table....it's best to know...it's a recommended schedule.

did you get the junior suite at the hyatt in St Louis?

recommended is such a fluid word isnt it??? and you know tis not like the train had to actually come from anywhere to get to platform 11 at union station. it was in the sheds ffs!

and no, my digs are far more exclusive than any suite, junior or otherwise.

catefrances

mickeyrat wrote:

catefrances wrote:

mickey,
VANS are nearly $100 here.


oh and BD,

good luck with your quest.

:shock: Fuck that. Hell in the future , your kids want em again, shoot me a PM with their sizes and desired styles and I'll get them and ship them. You can paypal me once they're shipped.

well mickey.. its not like i made this trip exclusively to buy VANS... and lemonheads.

norm

first greyhound, now amtrak :fp:


cate, you are either very brave or completely crazy

81

norm wrote:

first greyhound, now amtrak :fp:


cate, you are either very brave or completely crazy

i'm going with crazy......

at least she hasn't gone all mega bus on us yet.

catefrances

81 wrote:

norm wrote:

first greyhound, now amtrak :fp:


cate, you are either very brave or completely crazy

i'm going with crazy......

at least she hasn't gone all mega bus on us yet.

well im not completely crazy.

and the alternative was to fly.. and seeings how i have a major problem with strangers touching me(and no i dont give a toss if its for 'security' purposes) flying within the US is not really an option for me.

last time i amtraked it went fine. this delay was just one of the those things that can happen whilst travelling. no system runs perfectly. and the more annoying thing is lack of information.




GO BLUES!!!

catefrances

yesterday i asked the check out chick where the long life soy milk was and she looked at me like i had 2 heads.

justam

catefrances wrote:

yesterday i asked the check out chick where the long life soy milk was and she looked at me like i had 2 heads.

Don't take it personally. Some check-out chicks are just like that. Not the brightest bulbs, you know?

catefrances

justam wrote:

catefrances wrote:

yesterday i asked the check out chick where the long life soy milk was and she looked at me like i had 2 heads.

Don't take it personally. Some check-out chicks are just like that. Not the brightest bulbs, you know?

well it turns out the supermarket doesnt stock it. they did have a giant carton of soy in the fridge. but theres no way id go through 3 litres (or whatever the hell the equivalent here) is before it turned so...

justam

Find a good health food market. They'll have a variety of soy products.

catefrances

justam wrote:

Find a good health food market. They'll have a variety of soy products.

ill be needing my personal chauffeur for that.