Broadcasting from Music City

Okay, well we have been a bit slack with the blog updates - perhaps we have gotten a bit lazy from sleeping in proper beds for a few nights in a row, as opposed to the car. So, where are we? We are in a hotel just outside of Nashville. It is so friggin hot out there that we are lazing about a bit this morning, preparing ourselves for it. But before we go into details about Nashville, let's backtrack to where we last blogged - Billings. From here we made our way to Chicago. The main events to report of this stint...being bombarded with Christian music and Toby Keith; and Greg forgetting to lock the utility box on top of the car 3 times - thankfully nothing fell out; we just looked stupid. We arrived at our motel around 12am. Unfortunately we realised that we were a fair way out of town centre - misleading Travelocity be damned. The highlight of Chicago was the Cubs baseball game at Wrigley Field - this was my first ever baseball experience - and it was pretty much just like what I had seen in the movies. Greg was finely decked out in his Cubs gear, and I got excited and bought a shirt to wear too. Greg thinks the game was kind of boring; I thought it was fun, but perhaps that is because I had trouble understanding what was going on, in spite of Greg's detailed explanations. The Cubs lost.

Next day, on to Nashville. We made a stop over in some town just before Louisville, and were told that a tornado warning had been put out. The winds were picking up, and we were told that if they got really bad to run inside somewhere and hide. Mmm that would prove difficult when back on the road, with nowhere to hide. Thankfully, no tornado came. And so, here we are, Nashville Tennessee. So far, we are actually a little disappointed! It is a real tourist trap, or so it seems. We checked out the Country Hall of Fame museum which was great, but it kind of went down hill from there. There is LOTS of live music, all day and night, in almost all the bars along Broadway. But at Broadway last night there only seemed to be really one bar with good Nashville music happening. There were a stack of cheesy karaoke bars, and the last attempt we made at BB Kings Blues club tipped us over the edge - it was meant to be a Motown show, but what we got was 3 chicks on stage shimmying and shaking out a Beyonce tune - what the?? But, we are trying to stay positive - heading to a different part of town today and tonight - will report back!

2,760km to go

Highway 212 and our first fight

Sitting in The Western Empire Emporium buffet in Billings, Montana - Greg is killing it. I am fussy so not quite making full use of it, but he is getting well into his pancakes. Nice. To give you an idea of the kind of place this is, just beneath it's sign you have many slogans advertised in neon lights, including "Check out our casino - free drinks, hot machines! Friendly staff. Fun! Fun! Fun!". Oh yes it certainly is quite the hang out - if you're over 80; or addicted to poker machines.

Highway 212 rocks. Words cannot quite do it justice, neither can this picture. If you're wondering what Hwy 212 is, it's the highway you take from the north east exit out of Yellowstone National Park. We are not quite sure exactly how we came upon this Hwy; the GPS sent us there somehow. The massive valleys and soaring mountain sides, and changing colours in the sky - all blew us away. But as we went further and further along, higher and higher up, darkness creeping upon us, all other cars going in the other direction, we, well at least I, started to slightly freak out, and question the GPS' sense of direction. Not only this, but we were also pretty close to the edge of the mountain slopes, especially me being on the passenger side - and it was a very long way to the bottom. But alas we made it through in one piece. In terms of animal sightings, we saw several bison and deer in the Yellowstone; some deer along the Hwy; and yes, a black bear!! It was a cub, and walking languidly in the opposite direction to all the fascinated tourists - but exciting nonetheless.

As soon as we got off the Highway slight tension started to build in the car. It was 10pm and we both were in needed of a shower, which meant finding a motel somewhere. I just wanted to find something asap but Greg wanted to keep on driving until 12am and then find something. I could envisage a scenario like the previous night's midnight search for accommodation/showers, and was not up for that again. But the only town we came to initially had some bikers convention on, the streets were flooded with bikes and 'No Vacancy' signs. So we drove on. By the time we got to Billings it was indeed 12am, or close enough to. And guess what, there was some huge state Olympics going on. What are the odds. Lots of 'No Vacancy' signs once again. We trapsed around for some time, and then we did find one room vacant - but it was a smoking room. In my head of was screaming out "YAY we are so lucky to find this!"; but no, Greg did not want to sleep in a room that might smell a little smoke ridden. I was fuming but said nothing. Apparently this makes me a typical woman, expecting guys to know what we are thinking without saying anything. I guess he has a point, but I was sending out clear signals with my eyes! So we turned it down, drove around another half hour, came back to claim the smoking room, which, of course, was gone! I was mega unhappy - should have listened to that good old female intuition. At this point, I found bursting out of me the personality of a neurotic spoilt girly girl. "I NEED A BATHROOM! I NEED TO BRUSH MY TEETH!" At which point Greg said "YOU NEED TO STOP FREAKING OUT RIGHT ABOUT NOW!"I replied "YOU ARE SO PIGHEADED!" As if we can be fussy, arriving at a place at 12am. Then he found a room with a spa bath. Which I took full advantage of. And we both were happy once again. So, what have we learnt from this experience? I need to communicate; and Greg needs to work on his intuitive sensibilities. 6,472 km to go.

July 14-15

We are sitting in Doc's Cafe in Missoula, Montana. Home to the University of Montana, and Hannah Montana, I believe. It strikes us as a sweet little town, although we did see a woman being held to the ground and handcuffed by police as soon as we got out of the car, so who knows what lurks beneath its innocent appearance..So how did we get here?

We left Gabriola Island yesterday morning, and made our way by ferry to Nanaimo, and then drove on to Victoria. Here we waited for the next ferry to Seattle, and prepared ourselves for the US Border crossing, and the interrogation that was surely to come. We were, however, pleasantly surprised by the security guy's big smile and chatty manner, and lack of query into our intentions with his country. But then we realized what they were playing at - classic good cop, bad cop. For as soon as we disembarked the ferry at Port Angeles, the bad cop was waiting, and did an excellent job of intimidating us, just as anticipated. But we made it through with no drama. The main thing that we noticed about Port Angeles were a few signs about "Twilight". And then I realized (much to Greg's dismay) that this was the Port Angeles from the Twilight novel/movie! The place where Bella went in search of a book about vampires; where Edward rescued Bella from almost certain peril?! Amazing. Well, not so amazing actually. Perhaps for a brief moment, but that passed quickly. However, I have to point out here too that Greg, for all his teasing of me, was somewhat excited at getting the Seattle ferry, the same ferry you see in Grey's Anatomy. Seattle is a cool city. There were lots of Bastille Day celebrations going on, so lots of happy people out on the streets celebrating, and lots of live music. A good time to arrive. We'd been driving for about 10 hours at this point, and feeling tired, especially me, even though I have done zero driving. Highways scare me at the best of times, and here they come BIG; and packed with huge trucks; plus the whole driving on the opposite side of the road. Greg has banned me from it; and I will not contest.

We passed through several skunk filled areas - the smell is overpowering - yuck - they always look so cute in cartoons. We picked the least dodgy rest spot and finally at about 12am.

6987km to go

And so it begins.. Nina & Greg's trip across North America

We have just found a Wifi cafe on Gabriola. Greg is pressuring me to start writing this...and I keep procrastinating by sipping at my coffee...which will soon be finished. So...no more procrastination I suppose. Well, the first week in Vancouver rocked to say the least. I am in love with the city and Greg has rediscovered his love for his city through my tourist-like over-enthusiasm for pretty much everything. We both had our first Vancouver shows. Mine was a little gig at a place called The Libra Room on Commercial Drive. His was his graduation exhibition. These were made extra fun by the surprise attendance of Steve and Mel. Steve, Mel, Greg and I all came together in Montreal 5.5 years ago; so this was a reunion of sorts. We have spent the last 4 days on Gabriola with a bunch of friends. It's beautiful here. We've been pretty lazy on the whole; swimming, watching the sunset, drinking, eating, sleeping, doing puzzles, playing scrabble, Uno.. I have discovered that drinking and Uno do not mix well; not if you're out to win at least.

So, one more night here, and then we are off to Victoria, and then Seattle.

7,458KM to go....