Mostly Harmless – US Tour 2010

Still in driving mode today. We have to make ANOTHER 600 miles today in order to make Carbondale, CO. We’ll be cutting through Idaho, Utah and finally Colorado.

Our day begins in Twin Falls, Idaho, where we pulled in late last night into our usual spot – Motel 6. Cheap and cheerfully consistent. The morning is spent doing laundry and wandering around Twin Falls for some guitar supplies, hats, boots, electronics for Kev, etc. We manage to find a large mall which fulfills our day’s dreams… sort of. I didn’t really have a suitable heavy cold-weather jacket, and really wanted one before hitting the ridiculous blizzards and snow that’s plagued the States for the past while. We heard a news piece that announced there was record of snow in 49 states – that’s every one bar Hawaii. Anyway… I hit an Outdoors-y type store.

An outdoorsy shop in Ireland typically has tents, socks, fishing rods, rucksacks, coats… but this place has everything. Guns, boats, canoes, and the largest (non-music festival) tent I’ve ever seen – suspended from the ceiling. I eventually track down a coat that’s light, warm, and looks pretty good too… and it’s on my way out that I start noticing all the stuffed animals. They’re EVERYwhere. This is a pretty huge warehouse of a place, but it’s lined with animal heads. I’ve seen most of them before – or similar… but the one that really freaks me out is the giraffe. The traditional hunting trophy is the neck and head of the slain animal mounted on your wall… but giraffe’s have some neck. Anyway, it’s another first, albeit a grisly one.

When I emerge the guys are waiting for me, and only when I’m facing away from the mall do I see where the mall is actually positioned – on the edge of a huge canyon. Twin Falls was named such for a reason. We tried to get some shots of Norm – our trusty Town & Country – and the canyon. I’ll upload them asap. As I’m packing my stuff away I notice a little note on the receipt : “no refund on firearms for our own safety”. I’m not sure what that means, but it sounds vaguely threatening.

We leave Twin Falls quite late in the day, and beat onwards towards Carbondale, CO. We catch some of the wild scenery, and even stop in places like Malta. Just filling up here gives you a sense of how remote some of these places are. Interstate bypasses making them seem even more remote. And then the night comes… I hate travelling under darkness like this, and catching brief glimpses of scenery that should be breathtaking. I hate missing the scenery… and I hate briefly summing up a place in a paragraph too. Some of these places deserve much better than I can give them in this blog.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (from the Douglas Adams novel of the same name) had an entry for Earth that read “mostly harmless”. Arthur Dent, the sole surviving human from Earth, is incensed by this measly entry describing his former home. Two words! Just two words?! Ford Prefect, Arthur’s friend, saviour, and travel writer for The Guide, said that in the twelve years he spent on Earth, he improved the entry greatly. It used to read just, “harmless”.

So, I may be doing slightly better than the Guide… but I intend no offence by omitting places and details… We’re going for stream of consciousness, touring jumble here… it’s messy!