Oregon

Ok.. well here we are ,, finally trying to get together with bloggin!! so far so good in the USA. Immigration was no hassle, even just about had the guy taking out his pistol just to show me it was real!!! Once we were finger printed, photographe blood tested, frisked etc, we collected out bags and expected another grilling, only to find that there wasn't any! blimey, talk about easy.. coming back in to NZ is WAY harder.

No problem sorting out the VAN!! and as you will see (with luck) its a great paint job.. headed out of San Fran over the Golden Gate bridge (photo op) and even though a little foggy, found our way over to a weeny camp ground a little way up the coast. Slept like logs.. the bed is thankfully really good despite being made up of bench seats.

Visisted the Novato airport the next day, and that may have worked out as a key meeting with an aircraft salesman.. watch this space!

Headed sort of NE and up I5 to Mt Shasta.. wow.. great road, hot day, 30+ degrees C aircon flat out. Had some tunes in the CD provided by Jess.. actually we think one of the piano pieces was maybe her own?? Jess?? yes/no? Anyway.. Mt Shasta was beautiful. could have stayed for a few days.. met our first squirrel! and a huge herd of Chipmunks.. well.. at least 6 or 7. again a great photo op.

Left there heading up through Weed (great name!!!) on to 97 and up into Oregon. started to see a bit of road kill.. noticeably different to NZ. some a lot bigger, and different colours.. lke the black and white skunk, a couple of deer (ouch!) a coyote (we think) and other somewhat less recognisable dead stuff. I think I recall Justin penning a whole article for a motorbike mag on roadkill.!!

Had to go for speed over sightseeing as we needed to get to Creswell before 5 pm again to catch up with a Pitts Special specialist.. very interesting place. for the technically minded, he's finishing a HOT special one off for Sean D Tucker (famous airshow stunt pilot) that although it looks a lot like a single seat Pitts, is similar only pumped on on horrendous steroids!! 8, yes 8 ailerons!! the roll rate would be astronomical.. the protoype was climbing through 4300ft in something like 30 seconds from takeoff! it can do 3 forward somersaults after climbing not quite vertical after takeoff.. lots of carbon fibre and titanium! enogh teck stuff. They were all laughing about out CAA pretending there is a "Safety" concern over our S2E!!! don't get me started!

Went out to a "Big R" store (supermarket thingy) and had dinner there. $US12 way to go.. good too. potato salad, chicken salad, a bit of hot chicken, and strawberries! had a "kiwi fruit" moment.. all the way from Chile!! Alison had them for breakfast this morning.. wait one.. I'll ask.... "paasable" is her response. and $US1 each!! yikes.. at least the California grapes we normally buy are cheape here! nice too.. and the peaches.. yum.. got them from the market in Mt Shasta, from the orchadist..

ok.. time to post this and see what happens.. photos next, with luck!