A NOT-SO-GRIMM TRIP REPORT
I know, you probably have just about finished my Christmas letter when along comes another of those lengthy Grimm trip reports. Well, that's what you get for continuing to correspond with us. I'll tell you what, before the main feature, I'll provide a little comedy (sort of like a cartoon before the feature film).
Dorothy's 1981 Datsun (the one we bought just before we moved here in 1981 and has been back and forth across the Pacific several times) reached the 100,000 mile mark in December. Now, starting with iv-one of Dorothy's 1964 Studebakers, which reached 100,000 miles in November 1973, we began a tradition of having a celebration for each of our vehicles upon reaching that milestone. This was the fourth Grimm-mobile to enjoy such a celebration - -the '64 Studebaker, a '70 Dodge Dart, a '70 Plymouth valiant, and the Datsun. I called some Australian friends and invited them over Sunday afternoon. I set out tables, complete with tablecloth, snacks and champagne. Toby refused to attend - too strange, he said. The reaction on the part of the Australians was mixed - astonishment, wonder, and "what am I doing mixed up with these weird people?" I had prepared the car - washed and cleaned it and drove it until the odometer read 99999. Trailed by my guests with glasses of champagne, I walked to the car, drove it a block and back to move the odometer to 000000 (actually the optimistic Datsun manufacturer put an odometer in it that goes up to a million so it read 100000). One of the guests works with Dorothy at the newspaper and inserted a small item in the newspaper (see attached copy). I think our friends enjoyed the unique event and will remember it.
And now to the main event
The trip back to the U.S. this year was one of our longest trips ever - so sit back. Since I was a bit apprehensive about this trip ,, anyway, I was a bit uneasy about leaving Alice on Friday the 13th. Our friend, Chris, took us to the airport in our van and as a joke J (on me later on) I took down the mileage because of Chris' tendency to use my van while we are away. We flew to Darwin and landed on one of the last days for the old terminal. It was HOT AND HUMID. After walking around the outside downtown mall for a short time we escaped to the only air-conditioned mall in town. That evening we visited a friend who had moved to Darwin years ago and had recently married. The next day we dove to Litchfield Park - a relatively new National Park. Host of the roads were dirt and it was still miserably hot. We saw two pretty waterfalls and people were swimming in the pools at the base of the falls. I was sorry I had not brought a bathing suit. We also took a short walk through the rain forest which contained many spider webs with huge spiders (about the size of my hand). On the way back to Darwin, on a long dirt road with no signs of civilization, we suddenly came to a store. The one clerk, a relatively young girl, was an artist of sorts and lives out bush with her husband raising hogs. Very strange. The rest of that day and the next day and a half we spent doing some sightseeing - a museum, old jail, and casino, as well as going to comic shops, flea markets, going onboard a visiting ship with an international crew which travels all over the world selling primarily religious books, and generally trying to survive the environment. Toby went to a bowling alley to see some friends and spent a lot of time with one who used to live in Alice.
Monday we left Darwin on the first Qantas plane to use the new terminal. Since no one in the Qantas lounge had a camera to take a picture of their first plane to arrive at the new terminal Dorothy offered to take some and was asked to send copies to their office in Sydney. We arrived in Singapore, and once more were impressed with the airport. We took a cab to the YHCA for the night and early the next morning returned to airport, making excellent time thanks to an apparent former race car driver who is now a cab driver. According to our calculations, the flight to Hong Kong was Toby's 100th. After settling in the YHCA we spent a long day walking all over the Kowloon side (or so it seemed) - shopping and just enjoying the sights of this unique city. The city seemed more Chinese oriented this time from 1983 - no doubt in an effort to move toward the transition of becoming Chinese in 1997. In 1983 most of the movies being shown were American, this time most were Chinese.
Wednesday, we took the subway to Hong Kong (which is on an island off the mainland) and caught a double decker bus to the small town of Stanley on the south side of the island. The bus ride was very scenic with the winding road climbing over large hills and around narrow curves, at times providing spectacular sights of large expensive houses on the sides of mountains overlooking a beautiful bay below. We did not see many private homes; most housing is high-rise apartments all over Hong Kong, including up and down and on top of mountains. As I told someone recently, while it's fun to walk through the crowded streets and see/shop for varied merchandise, there is a lot more to see in Hong Kong. But speaking of shopping, we went to Stanley because it has an interesting shopping area - narrow winding streets with shop after shop of various items from tacky T-Shirts to cashmere sweaters, junky souvenirs to fine jewelry. This village was set on the shores of a picturesque bay. We took a number of photos of the Chinese fishing boats in the bay. On our return to the city, the poor old double decker bus was completely full and was really struggling up the hills.
We took the ferry back across the harbor and went into a large shopping center to see the Toys R Us in the basement. Later we walked along the harbor by the Peninsula Hotel (a landmark) to another shopping center and,ate in the Beverly Hills Deli! By now it was dark so we were able to enjoy the fantastic display of Christmas lights on the sides of the tall buildings fronting the harbor. Some of the buildings on the Hong Kong side were similarly lit and provided a beautiful setting. Much to the embarrassment of Toby and wonder of the other people I laid on the ground by the water to use the ground to stabilize my camera for time exposures. Dorothy was sure I was going to drop the camera in the water (I didn't).
The next morning, prior to our departure, we walked down to the docks through a large distribution area for fresh fruit and vegetables. They had arrived from the U.S., Philippines, and
Australia. We wandered down a very crowded street of vendors selling all sorts of things. Finally we visited the jade market, and bought a few small pieces. At one stand Dorothy was intrigued by a basket of old coins. Despite my cynicism on the authenticity of some U.S. silver dollars dated 1799, Dorothy bought one for 40 Hong Kong dollars ($5.20 U.S.) - more on that later.
Our 11 1/2 hour flight to San Francisco was just that - long. I couldn't believe one of the movies on the flight was the old Jimmy Stewart Christmas classic, "It's a Wonderful Life." On our layover in S.F., we each put a recorded message on our friend Roy's answering machine (see my letter concerning last year's trip by Dorothy and Toby). We arrived in Newark expecting to meet up with Dwight, but he'd taken an earlier flight. This was relayed to us by the driver of the shuttle that took us to Dorothy's mother's apartment. Dwight told us a funny story about how the cab driver he had from Newark to Cedar Grove didn't speak English real well, didn't have a map of Cedar Grove so didn't know exactly where to take him, and he (Dwight) wasn't exactly sure how to find his way to his grandmother's, so they drove around until Dwight would spot some familiar sight. Eventually he arrived at his destination.
We shopped all day Friday, and the next day, Dorothy, Dwight and I went to New York City. There were very good buskers (complete with electric instruments) in the subway tunnels and in Times Square. Our wanderings took us to several book stores, a billiard supply store (Dwight bought a cue to use in his fraternity pool room), through some of the major department stores (Lord and Taylor and perhaps Macy's for the last time), by Rockefeller center, and in the new Toys R Us across from Hacy's. The crowds were even getting on Dwight's nerves. A block or so from the Port Authority Bus Station, we noticed fire engines surrounding it. Thank goodness the problem was nonexistent or minor because they were leaving as we arrived. As we walked through to our gate, we noticed a bowling alley we had not seen before, as well as the ever present homeless people who inhabit the terminal.
The remaining time in New Jersey was spent doing more shopping, watching TV (including the last Redskin regular season game) preparing for Christmas and eating Christmas dinner.
Two years ago when we drove from New Jersey to Washington D.C. the day after Christmas, we encountered an 11-mile backup to pay tolls on the Jersey turnpike. I went slightly berserk yelling, hyperventilating and trying to tear the steering wheel out of the car. Dorothy vowed never to ride with me again on the Jersey turnpike. So this time, between her vow and a lack of a car, we traveled by (in Dorothy's words) a civilized mode of transport - the train. When I called my mother on Christmas day she asked if there was a chance to reach Hagerstown by the night of the 26th - my high school was having an open house. So, we decided to only take the train as far as Baltimore and rent a car there to travel to Hagerstown. Rather than go through the agony of carrying all of our bags on a bus to New York City, Dorothy's mother offered to take us to a train station near the Jersey turnpike. However, this presented a problem. Dorothy's mother has a Chevy Escort - there was no way us and the bags (11-12) were going to fit. So we had to remove the shelf over the luggage compartment and still people had to hold some items. Fortunately, it only took 1/2 hour to get to the train station. I had a bad feeling when I saw how many people were waiting for the train. My fears were justified when the 8-car train arrived and every seat in every car was taken and people were standing in the aisles. We climbed into the entry way and stacked our bags against the opposite door (hoping it wouldn't open). We stood in the unheated entry way for 2 1/2 hours until we arrived at Baltimore. Incredibly, more people got on at the next couple of stops and once I had to lay over- the bags and hold them when the door did open on that side. Dwight said he now knew what it felt like to travel "refugee class" and several times he and I commented on this "civilized mode of transport."
At Baltimore I threw about my only fit on the trip (Dorothy disputes this). I had reserved a rental car and when I called upon arrival, I was told if the pickup van wasn't there then it would be shortly. It arrived almost 45 minutes later during which time I resorted to yelling and kicking suitcases, causing one man who was waiting for something to move to the other side of the street.
We arrived in Hagerstown to find my niece in the hospital with an eye injury. While Dorothy stayed with my brother and his wife at the hospital waiting for them to operate, I went to the open house. Unfortunately the publicity was not good, so only a few people showed up. My niece's eye was not injured - the lid and tear duct had to be stitched. After visiting family and friends and doing a little shopping we went on the Washington D.C.
Once again our good friends, the McDonalds, who live across the street from our house, graciously put up with us for over two weeks. We spent the first several days getting my 1982 Buick on the road, going to the dentist and eye doctor (me) visiting friends and, of course, shopping. One of our friends that we visited has a habit of buying houses on hills and has become expert at terracing, so for Christmas his wife ordered him a truckload (3 tons) of rocks. He spent Christmas happily laying out rocks at the next level of terracing. On Friday we put Dwight on the plane to fly back to Stanford. Oh yes, while we were in a stamp and coin shop, Dorothy found her coin from Hong Kong was worth quite a bit more than she paid for it. Now, for the rest of my life I'll be reminded how she wanted to buy more of them.
The next week I went to work all week and on Wednesday, Dorothy and Toby took the train back up to New Jersey. Friday, Dorothy went into New York City to visit a friend and to see Until the End of the World which had been filmed in part in Central Australia. Dorothy had been anxious to see how the film turned out as she had met many of the cast members while on location here. The film was being shown exclusively in two NYC theatres. She was glad to see it but as far as the film itself, the reviewer says, "awful."
The next two days, Dorothy and Toby returned to the city for the giant annual comic book convention. They stood in a line that was six deep for 2 1/2 hours to get in. Toby heard 40,000 attended that day, but even though there were still lines waiting to get at 5 p.m. (when the fire marshall and police closed entry to the event), I suspect the number was more like 14,000. Toby, of course, bought more that a few comics (in addition to those bought in numerous comic
shops during the trip). Toby also got a lot of autographs of the guest writers and illustrators and they attended a number of talks. They both laughed at the recounting by one illustrator of starting to
draw during a long car trip with his parents.
Toby, Dorothy and her mother traveled to Washington by train on Monday and the next day we drove to Staunton, Va. to visit a good friend and his two precocious daughters whom we had not seen in over 7 years. I was very glad to see them and Dorothy saw her poor old Studebaker that has been sitting there since 1974 prior to our move to Denver. The girls kept us entertained with "blond" jokes (how do you confuse a blond - give her a bag of M&M's and ask her to alphabetize them - my apologies to blonds).
The next day we drove on to Hillsborough, N.C. to visit Dorothy's brother and his family. This was my first chance to experience Dwight's house (the one he lives in - they own four others). In addition to collecting houses, Dwight also has a collection of vehicles: a Comet, an HG, a motorcycle, a Chevy Van, another van, a Honda, a boat and trailer, a camping trailer, and a tractor. But, back to the house. It has high ceilings, a huge central hallway and needs a bit of work. I was a bit taken aback when I had to drive down someone else's driveway to get to their property. Let's say it was an experience. He spent one afternoon going in and out of antique shops where we found a few comics for Toby, saw things at outrageous prices that may be found in our basement in Alexandria, and started a search for a unique pool cue for Dwight. One day, Dorothy's brother (another Dwight) took off work and showed us around Durham and also took us to where he works at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Friday, January 17th, Toby, Dorothy and I started our trek west. We traveled on Interstate 40 which we got on not far from Dwight's house and our first day's journey took us through western North Carolina and into Tennessee, passing through Knoxville and into Nashville for the night. Most of the area we drove through was heavily wooded and some of it was through mountains. We were struck, however, by the many billboards advertising factory outlets (we stopped at a London Fog outlet and Toby and I both got jackets), and flea markets. However, since it was Friday, we figured the flea markets wouldn't be open, but we could stop at some the next day. Wrong - we didn't see any on Saturday when we drove through the rest of Tennessee, through Memphis and into Arkansas. We stopped for lunch in Little Rock. Dorothy remembered that one of our favorite restaurants (Casa Bonita) in Denver had a branch in Little Rock. She called information, got the number and called for directions. We found it, but I was somewhat disappointed in that it was small and couldn't compare with the one in Denver that seats 1200 and has a 35-foot waterfall in the middle. We drove back across the Arkansas river and on into Oklahoma, stopping for the night in Muskogee. During our trip across the south, Toby was fascinated by the various accents he heard.
The next day we arrived at our friends' house in Enid. We had first met the Shaws in Denver and then had visited them numerous times when they lived in Pa. Joe is employed by Phillips University and while we were there he had to fly off to Osaka, Japan to visit a campus there with which they are associated. The Shaws have a beautiful house in an area known as 1000 Oaks - yes there are Oak trees in Oklahoma (news to me). One morning 12 deer showed up just outside their yard, and we also saw a roadrunner in their front yard. However, we did not see the coyotes that live nearby. We went to a mall, a comic shop, a very nice museum, a flea market, and in a pawn shop found a neat pool cue for Dwight and another Pentax camera for Dorothy.
On Tuesday we drove to Oklahoma City and after some last minute shopping and yet another comic shop, I put Dorothy and Toby on a plane to return to Alice in time for Toby to bowl in the rolloffs to determine this year's Northern Territory junior ten-pin team. He did very well, with his new bowling ball, placed fourth and made the team.
I returned to 1-40 and drove 6 hours through relatively boring landscape, through the Texas panhandle, and just across the New Mexico border to Tucumcari. The next day I drove for 13 hours (740 miles) through New Mexico and Arizona to Needles Ca. just inside the California border. That day I saw some fantastic scenery. It had snowed several days before and the snow on the sides of the mountains and buttes heading into Albuquerque served to accentuate them. Then, coming out of the mountains east of Albuquerque a vista of mountain ranges lay before me that made me mad I had not kept one of Dorothy's cameras. Later in the day I saw another scenic mountain range on the California border.
The next day was more of the same across southern Ca. (without the snow). I usually find freeway driving boring, but I didn't those two days. I left the sunny, fairly clear weather driving north on 1-5 and descended into a cloud bank (or heavy smog) and I never saw the sun again until I drove across another mountain and into San Jose. I was getting a bit antsy as I drove up the freeway toward San Francisco, but finally I saw the sign for Palo Alto/Stanford. I can't tell you how glad I was to be there.
Using Dwight's directions, I had no problem finding his fraternity house (a semi-fraternity since the University owns the building and they are not affiliated with a national organization) and pulled into their parking lot - 3523 miles from leaving Alexandria. Dwight had a bottle of champagne waiting and we went out and toasted the car and took pictures with his camera. He invited me to eat in the house that night and then told me that he was on the roster to help with the dishes. He said that he really needed to study for an exam so was going to skip helping and pay the $20 fine. I said that wouldn't be necessary - I'd take his place, and I did. The rest of the guys in the house got a kick out of it.
I stayed at my friend Roy's house, and a couple of nights took him, Dwight and friends out to dinner. I can't thank Roy enough for all he's done for Dwight - picking him up and dropping him at the airport (about 45 minutes away), storing his stuff over the summer and inviting him out to dinner occasionally. Dwight will of course be more mobile now with his own car, but I'm sure he will still need help from Roy. Dwight threw a party in honor of the Super Bowl and my being there, and despite my watching the game the Redskins came through.
I took the Buick back to a dealer while I was there to fix a few things that turned up on the road and things I didn't want wrong with it before I turned it over to Dwight. While the car was being fixed, I walked into Palo Alto and found a number of things I had been searching for all over the U.S. I enjoyed my stay there, but finally, on Monday got the shuttle to the airport, flew to L.A., and then on to Sydney and after a short time on the ground (too short - I wasn't sure my bags would make it - they did) flew on to Alice Springs. It was a good trip, but it's nice to be home. We do not anticipate returning to the U.S. until June 1993 for Dwight's graduation, so this will be the last U.S. trip report for awhile (is that a collective sigh I hear?).
When I got home, I found that my friend Chris, who is going off to university this month, found a buyer for his motorcycle who wanted it right away; So Chris sold it and used my van instead. He put 1700 km (1040 miles) on it while I was gone. Oh well, he will soon be gone and we will miss him.
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