An american tale, Asper's travel.

[Asper Sarnoff]

As I've had tons of people asking me how my recent trip to the US was, if I liked it, things that surprised me, everything basically. Therefore, I'll be going to tell the basic story of the trip here. This will be quite long, and probably stretch over many posts. Feel free to post questions underway.

Also, note that I will refrain from giving out the full names of the people I meet on my travels. Several have their own websites, and while I'm sure you'll be able to find them if doing google-searchs anyway, I'm not going to link directly.

Day 1: The long travel

Well, started quite early with my mother driving us travellers, me and my considerably older and more artistic cousin, Inga, to Værnes airport, just outside Trondheim. It's the third largest city of Norway, and about 2 hours drive from home. The drive there was quiet and uneventful, as it was early in the morning, and we were all feeling a little drowsy. Short story, we got there, said our goodbyes, and headed into the airport. Nothing out of the ordinary happened there. I bought a car magazine there to supplement the two books I had with me, The Sanctuary by Raymond Khoury (Good book, but not great) and The Leopard by Jo Nesbø (among the best books I've ever read) to have something a bit lighter as well when I didn't feel for plowing trough those veritable bricks.

From Værnes, we flew to Gardemoen, the airport outside the capital, and the largest in Norway. About an hours flight. Nothing special to report from there while we waited for the plane that would take us to Copenhagen in Denmark, where we would take the one that went to O'hare in Chicago. We did buy some traditional Norwegian spirits, called Aquavit, because Ingas parents wanted to give our relatives something nice. Why they then opted for the liquid equivalent of rat poison is beyond me.

In Copenhagen things started to heat up.

We had around 40 minutes to make the change. 40 minutes ain't all that long in such a big airport we discovered. After about a mile of walking, we reached the passport control which one had to pass trough to reach the international flights (Norway-Denmark are quite close, and thus don't require such). It wouldn't have been much of a problem, if it wasn't for the queue, several hundred people long, and moving at what for us felt like a snails pace.

After being stuck there for a considerable amount of time, I caught on a board that our flight was "closing", and we realised we had to do something. Luckily, asking the people first in the queue, they let us trough first. We passed the check in a couple of seconds, and now had about 10 minutes left before the plane was officially leaving.

I grabbed most of Ingas luggage, and started to jog as fast as I could with her still being able to keep up in her high heels. After about a mile of this, we finally reached the gate, and slammed out tickets down on the counter. The guy behind it took a quick look at them before writing a couple of receipts, and giving one to each of us, asking us to board.

On board the plane, Inga started to make her way backwards, to the economy-class. With the economy+ being 700 USD more, and business twice as much as that again, we had opted for the cheapest tickets. Noticing something, I asked her to stop and come back forewards again. Having been overbooked on economy, the company had moved us foreward. The number on our receipts now matched a couple of really nice seats on economy+, which equaled more entertainment in the video screen in the headrests in front of us, considerably more space to move around in(much appreciated by me, being a fair bit bigger than most others) as well as more to eat and better service.

Due to this, the flight felt a lot shorter than the numbers told. I watched in total three movies: Shutter Island (Great movie), X-men (A disappointment) and Alice in Wonderland (better than expected, but not memorable). The drone from the engines tend to drown out some of the conversation, so I sadly missed quite a bit of stuff there.

Another handy function was the camera installed in front of the airplane, from which we could get live footage on our screen. When flying over Lake Michigan, I turned it on at exactly the right moment to see the Chicago skyline come out of the mist. Goosebumps!

After touching American tarmac, it was time to go to the security checks. This, we had been told, was going to be an endless nightmare. Luckily, it only took us around 40 minutes to get trough. I suspect it might have been because we didn't arrive at the same time as a plane from any Asian country, from which the passengers get checked a lot more thoroughly. If it had been now we had decided to travel into the US though, we'd probably be a lot more delayed. Three terrorists, responsible for bombings in NY, London, and planning one in Oslo, was arrested yesterday here in Norway.

After the security check, we claimed our luggage and headed out to meet up with those which we would spend the time here with. Lisa, our second cousin and an avid composer and flutist, and her husband, Scott, Saxophonist. Greetings and long hugs, and we moved out of the airport. What first struck me was the wave of heat that hit me as soon as me left the airconditioned airport. The temperature and humidity made Chicago feel like a sauna to me, who often thinks Norway is way to hot most of the time.

We got on Scott's car, a Ford Explorer, and drove out to the hotel where we would be staying. After signing in there and dropping off our stuff in our rooms, we headed out to grab some dinner for the evening. We went to a place called "The Cheesecake factory", which proved to be a lot better than what images the name brought up in my mind. Darn thing looked like a mix of Cesar's Palace and a Inca temple! Having been feed up on the place with both dinner and desert(ice cream! OMNOMNOM), I and Inga opted for something which we thought would be "light". Some kind of mexican-inspired chicken salad. This was our first meeting with American food portions, and what they viewed as "one portion" was enough to have feed both of us. I later came to learn that it's not bad manners not to eat it all, but I do think it's a little silly and wastefull doing it that way.

The food itself was good though, and we later headed back to the hotel to get some sleep. It was about 10-PM over there, but for us who suffered from jet-lag, it was 6-AM. We didn't have to wait long before we promptly fell asleep.

End of first day, more to come later...

[Four-eyed Vulpine]

I LOVE airport drama!  [/sarcasm]  At least you made it over here okay.

Your trip sounds pretty exciting so far; I can't wait to hear more about it!

And getting bumped up to economy-plus must have been an awesome surprise to experience.

[Sapphire]

You went to the US? That's cool Asper! Which state? Cuz I live there! :lol:

[Four-eyed Vulpine]

Which state?

The temperature and humidity made Chicago feel like a sauna to me' date=' who often thinks Norway is way to hot most of the time.[/quote']

I'm guessing he went to Illinois.

[Asper Sarnoff]

You went to the US? That's cool Asper! Which state? Cuz I live there!

Illinois, Iowa and Montana.

[Sapphire]

Illinois, Iowa and Montana.

Wow nice I'm in Tennessee! Hope ya had fun! :)

["User"]

Chicago's the third largest city in America and there's well over 9000 things to do there.  Out of the 100+ cities or so I've visited over 27 states it's my 2nd most traveled place (next to Buffalo, NY)

We had around 40 minutes to make the change. 40 minutes ain't all that long in such a big airport we discovered. After about a mile of walking, we reached the passport control which one had to pass trough to reach the international flights (Norway-Denmark are quite close, and thus don't require such). It wouldn't have been much of a problem, if it wasn't for the queue, several hundred people long, and moving at what for us felt like a snails pace.

After being stuck there for a considerable amount of time, I caught on a board that our flight was "closing", and we realised we had to do something. Luckily, asking the people first in the queue, they let us trough first. We passed the check in a couple of seconds, and now had about 10 minutes left before the plane was officially leaving.

Trying to get on a plane at the last minute most definitely sucks, and there's always the chance you'll miss your flight. Some airports I'm sure, like Las Vegas's Mccarren actually put you through extra security if you check in late (at least that was the case with me in 2006)

I grabbed most of Ingas luggage, and started to jog as fast as I could with her still being able to keep up in her high heels. After about a mile of this, we finally reached the gate, and slammed out tickets down on the counter. The guy behind it took a quick look at them before writing a couple of receipts, and giving one to each of us, asking us to board.

They don't have e-tickets or other forums of paperless ticketing?  I don't think I've ever taken a flight where I've had physical paper tickets.  Usually I check in via a computer and it's much faster.

On board the plane, Inga started to make her way backwards, to the economy-class. With the economy+ being 700 USD more, and business twice as much as that again, we had opted for the cheapest tickets. Noticing something, I asked her to stop and come back forewards again. Having been overbooked on economy, the company had moved us foreward. The number on our receipts now matched a couple of really nice seats on economy+, which equaled more entertainment in the video screen in the headrests in front of us, considerably more space to move around in(much appreciated by me, being a fair bit bigger than most others) as well as more to eat and better service.

$700 USD for ecomony plus?!  That's EXTREMELY pricey even if you get better food, service, etc.  Good thing you guys got the chance to move up

Another handy function was the camera installed in front of the airplane, from which we could get live footage on our screen. When flying over Lake Michigan, I turned it on at exactly the right moment to see the Chicago skyline come out of the mist. Goosebumps!

Some planes also have these screens directly overhead in front of your seat.  I remember the pilot putting GPS on during an entire overnight flight to back to Toronto.  I've flown to Chicago many times and for sure Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline (at night especially) is quite awesome.

After touching American tarmac, it was time to go to the security checks. This, we had been told, was going to be an endless nightmare. Luckily, it only took us around 40 minutes to get trough.

This is news to me, I thought that in European countries (like Britain) they usually pre screen you before you get on the plane?  I know that was the case with that failed bomb plot last Christmas day in Detroit, as they failed to follow their own procedure and search the guy thoroughly before he boarded the plane.  And I'm sure the endless nightmare part is typical stereotyping concerning "Fortress America".  I rarely have problems with screening or security.

I suspect it might have been because we didn't arrive at the same time as a plane from any Asian country, from which the passengers get checked a lot more thoroughly. If it had been now we had decided to travel into the US though, we'd probably be a lot more delayed. Three terrorists, responsible for bombings in NY, London, and planning one in Oslo, was arrested yesterday here in Norway.

The country where you arrive from most DEFINITELY plays a role here, but also the nationally on your passport.

After the security check, we claimed our luggage and headed out to meet up with those which we would spend the time here with. Lisa, our second cousin and an avid composer and flutist, and her husband, Scott, Saxophonist. Greetings and long hugs, and we moved out of the airport. What first struck me was the wave of heat that hit me as soon as me left the airconditioned airport. The temperature and humidity made Chicago feel like a sauna to me, who often thinks Norway is way to hot most of the time.

This summer has been insanely hot so far, much more then in past years.  Chicago is actually relatively cool though compared to further south states like Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama etc.  In winter though it's the other way around I'm sure when American's visit Norway and complain about the cold.

We went to a place called "The Cheesecake factory",.

That place is win.

This was our first meeting with American food portions, and what they viewed as "one portion" was enough to have feed both of us.

The portions are even bigger and cheaper further south. 

End of first day, more to come later...

I look forward to reading more. :)

[Guest FoXXX]

Cool trip :D

[Asper Sarnoff]

They don't have e-tickets or other forums of paperless ticketing?  I don't think I've ever taken a flight where I've had physical paper tickets.  Usually I check in via a computer and it's much faster.

Well, in both our international flights and those inside the states, we got the documentation sent on E-mail, which we printed out and feed into a computer at the airport, typing in some additional info, and then receiving our boarding passes, which is what I meant when I said "tickets".

Some planes also have these screens directly overhead in front of your seat.  I remember the pilot putting GPS on during an entire overnight flight to back to Toronto.  I've flown to Chicago many times and for sure Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline (at night especially) is quite awesome.

They had one of those as well, with GPS and flight information. I could also get that up on my own screen if I wanted, but I was to busy watching movies and eating ice-cream.

The country where you arrive from most DEFINITELY plays a role here, but also the nationally on your passport.

It wasn't as much that it took long for us personally to get trough, as that we had to stand in queue for most of the time. Took about 2 minutes of questioning before they let each trough. As we arrived along with seemingly only passengers from Scandinavia, and perhaps some from other western-european countries, there weren't any real delays.

I look forward to reading more.

You will get more, be sure of that. Might take a while though.

Cool trip

Yeah, sure was.

Wow nice I'm in Tennessee! Hope ya had fun!

I did. Thanks.

I LOVE airport drama!  [/sarcasm]  At least you made it over here okay.

Your trip sounds pretty exciting so far; I can't wait to hear more about it!

And getting bumped up to economy-plus must have been an awesome surprise to experience.

Stay tuned for more. :yes:

[EazyIN]

NOOOO WE WERE JUST FINE WITHOUT YOU *kidding* 

Welcome back Asper-petrol head 

[CrypticQuery]

Sounds like you had a great time Asper! .  Can't wait for more! :P

[Star Fox Runner]

So you were in Chicago huh? You weren't quite that far from me. Chicago is in Illinois, I live near St. Louis Missouri!

After the security check, we claimed our luggage and headed out to meet up with those which we would spend the time here with. Lisa, our second cousin and an avid composer and flutist, and her husband, Scott, Saxophonist. Greetings and long hugs, and we moved out of the airport. What first struck me was the wave of heat that hit me as soon as me left the airconditioned airport. The temperature and humidity made Chicago feel like a sauna to me, who often thinks Norway is way to hot most of the time.

Buddy, you just felt what a typical summer day in the Midwest is like. It ain't pretty, but that's how it is here

We got on Scott's car, a Ford Explorer, and drove out to the hotel where we would be staying. After signing in there and dropping off our stuff in our rooms, we headed out to grab some dinner for the evening. We went to a place called "The Cheesecake factory", which proved to be a lot better than what images the name brought up in my mind. Darn thing looked like a mix of Cesar's Palace and a Inca temple! Having been feed up on the place with both dinner and desert(ice cream! OMNOMNOM), I and Inga opted for something which we thought would be "light". Some kind of mexican-inspired chicken salad. This was our first meeting with American food portions, and what they viewed as "one portion" was enough to have feed both of us. I later came to learn that it's not bad manners not to eat it all, but I do think it's a little silly and wastefull doing it that way.

The food itself was good though, and we later headed back to the hotel to get some sleep. It was about 10-PM over there, but for us who suffered from jet-lag, it was 6-AM. We didn't have to wait long before we promptly fell asleep.

?

?Cheesecake Factories are all over the US, and yet I haven't been to one before. Hope you liked it. As for how big the portions of food are, that's just how it is here, and it's kind of disgusting if you think about it. At one time, the current medium size drink at most restaurants was the large size.

Love to hear about the rest of the trip, I've been to Tennessee (both Nashville and Memphis) and I liked it there. I've never been to Montana though, so I'd love to hear how your time there was.

[Guest Julius Quasar]

cool...too bad you didn't visit Cali, but then again, we're just a step up from Somalia out here in Cali.  :P

[EazyIN]

cool...too bad you didn't visit Cali, but then again, we're just a step up from Somalia out here in Cali. 

Except Somalia looks like a jacked up 7.

["User"]

cool...too bad you didn't visit Cali, but then again, we're just a step up from Somalia out here in Cali. 

I met a military paramedic the other day at Laser Quest.  While discussing war related matters with him he mentioned he had a choice of deployment to Afghanistan or Somalia.  He ended up picking Somalia....."BIG MISTAKE" he told me. :P

[Eagle Kammback]

Sounds like a nice flight.

I've never been on a plane before, I'd love to though (and this coming from the guy who wants to get his pilots license)

[Kursed]

I've been to Chicago  many times living a few hours drive from there is nice but i still  prefure my Indiana home over Chicago.  you probably flew near my home town before you passed over lake michigan.

I once stayed in a hotel very near Ohare.

[Guest Julius Quasar]

I've been to Chicago  many times living a few hours drive from there is nice but i still  prefure my Indiana home over Chicago.  you probably flew near my home town before you passed over lake michigan.

I once stayed in a hotel very near Ohare.

Indiana rules over Chicago any day....Indiana is better than Illinois, and Wisconsin...

My sister stayed in a Hotel near O'Hare as well....she was visiting/considering DePaul University.

[Showtime 1-1]

Pretty good story there, Asper. Awesome that you got a better seat on the long flight, "economy" class isn't built for big guys, huh?

I have to say, though, the best seat in the plane is the plot's seat. I wish our airlines could do that, with a camera on the nose and everything. I can't stand being a passenger!

[Asper Sarnoff]

Before we start, let me say that we did take quite a lot of photos on our trip. Around 700 if memory serves. (Hey! Don't look at me! I only took 50 or so of those!) I'm planning to upload a selection of those packed together on a file-sharing site for everyone to download later on. I'll make sure to tell you where you can find it when it's up.

Day 2: "I'm sittin' on top of the world."

So, we got up the second day, ready to experience everything Chicago had to offer. But as everyone knows, one shouldn't go for adventure on an empty stomach.

While yesterdays dinner had impressed me, the breakfast buffet at the hotel wasn't much to brag about. But while neither as tastefull or remotely close to healthy as what I'm used to, I did fill up energy for the long day ahead of us.

Taking one of the hotels minibuses, we went to a train station, where we took the commuter train into the city center. A bit cheaper than the subway, and we had a better view as well. Since we didn't go in during the rush either, it was almost empty.

After about half an hours ride, we arrived at the station, and quickly moved up to the streets outside. As soon as I came outside of the station, I got an odd sensation of déjà vu. I had seen this street I was on before. Took me a couple of seconds to make the connection really. This was the exact street from Batman: The Dark Knight, where the Joker was chasing the armoured car, before being confronted by Batman himself and later becoming arrested. Quite cool actually.

Looking up, I also had a nice view of Sears tower, the tallest building in the US. It's called Willis now, but I'm never going to stop referring to it by its original name. It's just better. We started to move away from it, knowing we'd have more than enough time to appreciate it further the same evening.

So, we walked along trough Chicago, looking at all the strange things surrounding us. As a large area was closed of for some kind of food festival, we had to make a slight detour to reach our intended destination. The museum campus, and the Field Museum. It had originally been my idea to go here in the first place, though I doubt any of the others wanted to object anyway. Outside the museum, I spotted the bronze skeleton of a Brachiosaurus, oddly enough wearing a shirt belonging to one of Chicago's many sport teams. Actually, the main picture in this article is the exact skeleton.

Even though he didn't have much insulating body-fat to speak, I'm sure he must have been hot. It was boiling hot outside.

As I walked the steps up to the entrance, I praised myself I hadn't wanted to go to the south instead.

Entering the museum, I immediately spotted my main reason for coming here. A certain boy named Sue. Except it wasn't a boy, or even a human.

To clarify, "Sue" is the nickname of the largest, most complete fossil found ever of the worlds most famous dinosaur, Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Picture, not mine.

We bought our tickets, and headed in for a closer look. The closer we got, the more I started to realise just how huge she were. 42 feet long from tip of the skull to the end of the tail. This was quite a moment for me, who had for over half my life been obsessed with dinosaurs, and especially the T-Rex. I had read everything about Sue, but never thought I was ever going to see her live. And really, most of what I saw was the real deal. Usually, the skeletons made for exhibits are casts of the original bones. But this was mostly the real bones of a creature who had roamed the earth around 67 milion years ago.

Some smaller bones in the tail, her arms, the head and some other things were casts though. As they had either been to badly damaged during all those years to be used, or as in the case of the skull, to heavy to be safely supported by the poles holding her up.

After having spent some time there, we moved on and watched a 3D movie about her on the second floor. It was quite good. Not spectacular, but definitively worth a watch. after that, we took a quick look trough the evolution exhibit, ranging from the first ameba's, trough insects, fish, reptiles, dinosaurs and mammals. Didn't have as much time to spend there as I would like sadly, but I did take a couple of good photos.

Then, a quick swig by Sue's real head before we headed down to the first floor and into the ancient Egyptian exhibit on Ingas request. Also great! They had moved a whole temple there in fact, and the floor under it was filled with tons of interesting stuff.

Moving on, onto the native Americans. That was absolutely worth a watch. Something I noted when I was there though, was that all the other tourists in that section wasn't from the US, while the other exhibits had overflooded with Americans. Bad guilt? I don't know, but I'm not out to toss blame. It was a long time ago, and what's done is done.

As we watched some of the headdresses used by native Americans, Inga decided that next time she was going to get married, the bridegroom would have to wear a chiefs headdress, one of those with countless feathers. Thing is, I would actually not be surprised the slightest if she actually managed to get that to happen.

Seeing as we had spend half the day allready, and still only had lots of other things on our schedule, we had to leave sadly. but not before we had raided the museum shops. I've long been thinking of buying myself a nice cup, one which was only mine. So I ended up getting a huge beast of a mug, red and black, with Sues skeleton printed around it. Some other small things, as well as splashing out on a 3-foot long high-quality model of a T-Rex skeleton. Mostly for my little brother back home, but partially also for myself.

After leaving the museum, we all agreed it was time for a quick lunch. After a fruitless search for a place making a Chicago speciality, deep-dish Pizza, we settled for a cozy sports bar. I got myself a BBQ burger, which was incredibly good, but so tall I had to take out the salad and eat on the side just to be able to get my jaws around it.

Next point on the schedule was some shopping. Inga had scooped out a very specific store, which we had to take the subway to reach. "The Alley" was actually quite the interesting store in fact, selling "alternative" clothing for people like punks, goths, emos and metalheads. I didn't get anything, but Inga bought herself a pair of red and black boots, which by everyone over 50 years old would be described as "hooker boots". Inga seemed to like them though, and as Inga like me thinks that it's more important how you feel about yourself than how others view you, it wasn't much of a big deal.

Heading back to the city center with the subway again, there was only one thing left to do. We had purposefully saved this for the evening, as the queues would be smaller then, but it still took us quite a while before we finally got into the elevators, which in just a couple of seconds, brought us several hundred meters above the ground. Skydeck Chicago, the 13Th floor of Sears tower offers quite the breathtaking view in all directions trough its large panorama windows. Took loads of photos, and also walked out into the glass boxes hanging on the outside of the facade. Standing 103 floors above the ground, and looking trough the glass under your feet at the microscopic humans on the tarmac far below was truly a spectacular experience, but not for those afraid of heights...

We ended the day by eating dinner at an Italian restaurant not to far from the hotel. I had a delicious pepper steak, rare done, of course. So rare I bet a good vet would be able to get it back on its feet again. But see that's how I like them, I certainly didn't complain. I did however make sure to keep the side I ate from turned away from Lisa at all times, as she had used to be a vegetarian.

After my first whole day in the US, we headed back to the hotel for another good night of sleep, knowing we still had tons of things to do when we got up again.

[CrypticQuery]

Wow, that sounds awesome .  I gotta visit Sears Tower sometime.....or maybe any famous landmark

[Asper Sarnoff]

If I'm ever going to get done, I'll either have to write in less detail, or write a lot faster. So I'll try to do both.

Day 3: Asper goes cultivated. What!?!

Okay. Started off this day the same way as we did last time. Eating breakfast and catching the commuter train into the city. This would be our last full day in Chicago before going to Iowa next morning, so we had to mop up the last things we had to do today. Scott was busy this day due to a concert he was participating in, so it was going to be just me and the girls now.

When we got out of the station this time though, it was quite the downpour outside. Unwilling to get their hairdos messed up, the girls were hesitant to go out in the rain, so like everyone else, we was waiting under the roof outside the station. But when enough smokers, and actually, a couple of transvestites dressed up in bikinis and skirts made out of fake flowers, we decided it was getting a little crowded, and bought a umbrella in a small store inside the station. Just large enough to cover the girls heads. But I didn't complain really about getting wet. Compared to the heat the other day, I actually preferred a little soothing rain.

Our first destination was the Art Institute of Chicago. As Inga makes a living out of painting and being an art teacher, she really had wanted to do this.

As usual with art exhibits, there was both stuff I liked, stuff which didn't appeal to me, and stuff I didn't like at all.

This is the location of Americas most famous picture, "American Gothic" by Grant Wood, and it was quite special to see. But it wasn't my favorite. I really liked Edwards Hoppers "Nigthhawks". Got a really nice atmosphere to it.

I also loved Frederic Remingtons sculptures. So dramatic one won't believe it til one see them in person. Looks like someone watched an action scene in a wild west movie, and just hit the pause button. And remember, those sculptures are now in bronze, but he first had to make them in clay. Look up his works and imagine trying to make that stuff in clay without it collapsing due to lack of support.

After that and a quick lunch, we jumped onto one of Chicago's many river tours. Following the river downstream at first, having a great guide tell us a lot of stuff, primarily about architecture, we then turned and went upwards again and out on lake Michigan. It was well worth the money, and I can recommend that tour for anyone wanting to get a good view of Chicago. That was with Wendella boat Tours, should be easy to find with a quick Google search. Make sure to get the guide named Bob. Bob the Guider.

On the way back, we stumbled over an art equipment shop, which we naturally had to check out. As I've decided to cut down on the Poser 3D works I do and focus on traditionally drawing, which I haven't posted much of yet because I don't think it's been good enough to show. So I stocked up on what equipment Inga said I would need, as well as buying a really interesting book called: "Freaks! How to Draw Fantastic Fantasy Creatures", which contains lots of nice tutorials on drawing anthros of any kind. Definitively a nice buy!

I know I've forgotten something about what we did next. But until I can look trough our photos and freshen up my memory again, I'll just say we went back to the hotel after eating dinner somewhere and walking around and exploring stuff.

[Kursed]

Chicago is big and quiet strange glad you got out safe lol.

[CrypticQuery]

Sounds like you had a blast Asper! You make me want to visit Chicago! :D

[Asper Sarnoff]

Day 4: The roadtrip

As the fourth day dawned, it was time to drive to Lisa and Scott's apartment in Iowa City, which is in Iowa, I think.

A little over four hours drive that was, which gave us a lot of time to talk together, as if we didn't do that all the time as well, and get a proper good look around on the more rural parts of the northern states.

As all knows who has driven for extended periods of time on long, straight pieces of roads know, music ain't to shabby an idea either. As we had given Lisa and Scott a CD with Åge Aleksandersen, a famous Norwegian artist, we put that on. It's really quite a surreal experience driving trough the states listening to that guy singing on almost the same Norwegian dialect as I do. Not my type of music, but not bad either. It was quite special.

We also did a quick stop at the worlds largest truckstop, the Iowa 80 Truckstop. I had naturally heard and read about that place some years ago, but I didn't remember it was here, where we would go trough, before I actually saw it. Covering an area 2.5 times as large as Disneyland California, parking for 800 big rigs and a huge main building containing a shop where you could buy, well anything really.

I didn't buy anything there. But Inga got a 50's style kitchen apron with a picture of a woman driving and the text: "I ran into my ex the other day... I put it in reverse and ran into him again". Which we all agreed was fitting after she had separated from her husband not to long ago.

Now, being a petrolhead, it's only fitting that I give a little information on my impression of the US as a car country. Well, it's heaven really. Cars costs a LOT less here, even when the average income is calculated into the mix, and NICE cars go for about 1/5-10 of the price back home. In just a few short days, I saw more muscle cars than I have seen back home in a lifetime. The roads around large cities are, understandably due to the wear and difficulty of fixing them, horrid, even by my standards.

The highways on the other hand, are great. The fuel is a 1/3 of the price, even if we extract a lot more oil from the North Sea than we could use in a lifetime.

The American drivers though seems to be on average a LOT worse than ours. That I could even spot from how they acted on an arrow straight road.

Then, we stopped for a quick dinner at a place called HuHot, which I LOVED by the way. Awesome concept, definitively worth a visit. After that, straight to the apartment where we would spend the next couple of days. This was in a quite new place, dozens of houses looking exactly the same, and each containing several apartments looking exactly the same as well. It was quite roomy in fact for two people. They were about to move out of there, and to a place in Texas where Lisa would continue her studies, as Scott had finished his here.

After dropping our luggage in their place, we got into Lisa's car, which she had in a garage there. (Cadillac STS. One could only dream of a student being able to afford that back home...) and got a properly nice tour of the college campus. We later parked there, went for a late "dinner" at an ice cream place called Wendy's Ice Cream Shoppe. It was really delicious, and outstanding service in how they helped us pick our favorites.

After a nice, long tour on foot, we went back home and to sleep. I was unfortunate enough to be placed on an inflatable mattress, which gradually emptied itself of air over the night, and which required to be pumped up every 3 hours or so. I did sleep well enough anyway. Knowing that tomorrow, we still had a lot to do.